News

A major part of our thoughts at BCA meetings is looking for ways to support local Organisations.

As we hold our fortnightly meetings in Unity Grill in Ayr we heard about their commitment to provide holiday meals to children across Ayr North - these kids may otherwise go without a hot meal during school holidays. Unity Grill, in partnership with South Ayrshire Council and The 10:10 Trust, agreed to provide over 2,000 hot, nutritious, soups/meals over the Christmas holiday period.

As a group we decided to see how we could help with this challenge!

It wasn’t money that was required of us, but simply time! This was time to help prepare the food, and then to help get it to those who needed it. This was food prep in a scale we had not seen before – cleaning, peeling, chopping, grating various forms or veg in huge amounts. For many of us it was the first time in a commercial kitchen! Due to the time it was taking to grate the carrot mountain, we decided it would be best if Business Club Ayrshire donated a couple of food processors, which allowed us to speed up considerably. Thanks to Andy Kerr of Kerr Roofing for having this eureka moment as we may still be there grating otherwise! As our confidence (and ability) grew we even managed some additional preparation for the Community Christmas Dinners hosted by Angela in Unity Grill on Christmas Day, and the one hosted by the 10:10 Trust.

After all the prep we helped create gallons of soup, trays of pasta and cooked 100’s of baked potatoes, all ready for the food delivery truck the next day.

During the days we provided a couple of helpers to assemble and serve up the hot meals on The 10:10 Trusts’ double decker bus where the kids congregated for some fun on the climbing wall and games consoles while having some lunch. We helped provide soup, a choice of meals, sandwiches and a snack. It makes 4 stops and tries to reach as many kids as possible.

We managed to cover 6 shifts in total over the festive period which amounted to over 60 hours of support for this excellent initiative! We also gained some valuable skills in kitchen as an added bonus!