Celebrating together: how community projects and causes are enjoying the festive period

Thanks to the generosity of our members, we’ve been able to support thousands of local projects and causes during 2022. Here’s how three of them are celebrating the end of a successful year.

We spoke to leaders from three different community projects and causes across the UK, which have all received support from Co-op this year.

Sharon Evans is head of partnerships and volunteering for the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association (ACAA). The charity provides help to migrants and asylum seekers, particularly around avoiding isolation.

Caroline Beardsmore is a Co-op Member Pioneer and volunteer at Calder Community Cares. Originally set up to support the isolated and elderly during the pandemic, the organisation now also helps with food provision and providing acts of kindness to those in financial and social crisis locally.

Rebecca Denniff is program manager at Flash Company Arts, which brings the community together with activities around food, crafts and gardening.

Getting into the festive spirit

‘Christmas provides opportunities for acts of kindness, and one of these is collecting and distributing gifts to all the families and elderly or isolated people on our database. It’s over 300 homes in total, and all made possible thanks to our partnerships with local stores and our volunteers.’

Caroline Beardsmore

‘We’ll be opening our doors and providing lots of sessions, so people feel they can celebrate and enjoy time together without worrying about the cost. We’ll make some decorations, celebrate the solstice, anything that gets people involved!’

Rebecca Denniff

‘Our big celebration will be on 21 December, which is an important event in Afghan culture – the longest night, known as Shab-e Yalda. There’ll be music, dancing and food. We’ll also be collecting Christmas presents to give to the children and to help them feel included in Christmas, too.’

Sharon Evans

Celebrating with food

‘A lot of the people we help are being housed in hotels, so having sessions where people can join in with cooking gives them back a bit of normality and helps them feel involved.’

Sharon Evans

‘It’s important to help families get hold of the traditional foods that children in particular expect at Christmas. We’ll be running some cooking activities, including demonstrating the Co-op recipe for Christmas tree cake, which is nice and easy to make.

Caroline Beardsmore

‘We’ve got big plans for collaborating with our participants. We’ll be making jams, chutneys and preserves with our surplus food, getting people to taste them and decide what they like, and then making up batches together.’

Rebecca Denniff

Helping the community

‘We’ll have celebratory meals for different groups within our community, such as the young people and our Ukrainian refugees. The food all comes from our Community Fridge, which gets donations of unsold produce from local supermarkets and was set up thanks to the Hubbub and Co-op partnership.’

Rebecca Denniff

‘Our Community Fridge is a really useful asset for families housed in hotels, who don’t get food that the children are familiar with, and find it difficult to get hold of snacks. We get a lot of unsold bread products that we’re able to make use of by sharing them with our visitors.’

Sharon Evans

‘We’ll be looking to address the concerns of families and the cost of Christmas. Part of this will be working with the community women’s groups, looking at how to manage Christmas on a budget without losing any of the enjoyment or quality that is so important.’

Caroline Beardsmore