Facebook Live workshops show how to cook on a shoestring

Whole Again Communities (WAC) is based on the Treneere Estate in Penzance, one of the most deprived areas of Cornwall. Founded in 2013 by Liz Sullivan (pictures left) WAC encourages people to learn to cook good quality, affordable food from scratch so they can embrace healthy eating at home. As a community interest company, seeks to be self-funding by catering for events.

The Coronavirus crisis dealt a severe blow to the group's income generation at the same time as increasing demand for support. They applied to the Cornwall Emergency Appeal and were awarded a grant of £3,000.

The funding enabled Liz and her volunteer team to provide nutritious budget meals for vulnerable people referred to them by support agencies in the area. They prepared and delivered more than 200 meals per week.

Alongside WAC ran twice weekly facebook live workshops on gardening and cooking. Families of all ages learnt how to batch cook simple dishes from a few shoestring budget ingredients, as well as learning gardening and growing skills.

Liz says, “Yes, thank you so much for the Cornwall Emergency Appeal funding. With the £3,000 that you sent us we have run 8 workshops, where we are getting the ingredients and the recipes delivered to families and households in our locality. Some of the families are very vulnerable and it's heartening to hear how grateful they are to have the contact, the food and the activities.”

“An unexpected positive change was how, almost every member of the family got involved with the cooking when initially one member of a family expressed a desire to join in.”