Well, another 2 months have gone by and here we are in Summer - the sky is blue as I type so I'm not going to mention the British Summer weather - I live in hope.
So much has happened and is happening at the moment that it is hard to keep up.
In May we launched the very first video game to feature a Stottie! Scotty's Kindness Quest. This was made for us by our good friends over at Skewb Climate - and you can play it here - please fee free to pass on to any children (2-102). It's free. More happening with Scotty the Stottie later this year.
https://bigriverbakery.myshopify.com/pages/scottys-kindness-quest-video-game
To launch the event we had 32 kids from local schools in to make Kindness Cookies to share with their friends and family and to play the new game. A good day enjoyed by all.
We do have 2 Scotty the Stottie books (Adventures of and Super Scotty) and other merchandise on sale (T shirts books and toys) - which helps raise money for our children's projects and activities and also for CHUF - Children's Heart Unit at the Freeman Hospital.
https://bigriverbakery.myshopify.com/collections/store
Our Crowdfunder was a great success and we managed to raise over £34K - thanks to everyone who contributed. Many people opted for rewards in lieu of a donation so it's a win win. This helps support our community projects - supporting those in need - providing free daily food and drinks for those in need (June saw our highest figures yet) - free Wednesday lunches for all (trying to take away the stigma of food poverty), Daily breakfasts for local school children who can't access breakfast clubs for a number of reasons. We are in an area with a high number of refugee families and children - their stay in the area is transient. Surplus food is also taken to the school to help. We will be providing free packed lunches for school trips during the summer holidays. We will also be running more community and kids baking sessions over the remaining 6 months of the year. We have been asked to support more local initiatives and I am currently looking at how best to do that. This support also helps keep our prices low in our shop - which is becoming increasingly difficult - chocolate for example has just risen 40% due to the poor cocoa bean harvest - and we have been tipped off that the price of flour is to have a significant rise soon too - so we are holding our breath for that one!
We have been investing in our team - and we now have 2 trained Mental Health first aiders and all the team are trained on Equality and Diversity.
We have lots of lovely treats now available for posting across the UK - and our Geordie Afternoon Tea for 2 is going down a storm.
For those interested in the stats - our social impact for May/June:
350 free meals and drinks for those in need
180 free Wednesday lunches
380 free breakfasts for kids
32 kids baking
Keeping prices low and affordable in our shop
Food donations to schools, pop up pantries and homeless shelters.
Thank you so much for your continued support. Lots happening July/August so stay tuned...x