The Stones Community Trust
Activity Report
30 September 2021
3360
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73%
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People Supported
of users rely on Foodbanks
89% Of Schools Out users were Goldings Residents
92% Of children on Free School Meals
Report of Projects
Food Deliveries and Social Isolation Programme
Stones Feed Maidstone Programme
120 Prepared Meals and 80 food parcels were delivered in November 2021. This prompted us to look at ways of extending this offering particularly in the lead up to Christmas.
Covid-19 Response programme
We were successful in obtaining funding of £4,000 from Kent Community Foundation. However, Government changed the lockdown guidelines so the Christmas Schools Out programme was not allowed to go ahead. Our funding from KCF was therefore reduced to £2,600 which enabled us to provide activities and food for those families that would have taken part in the cancelled Schools Out programme. We also delivered a social isolation programme for families and older people during December 2020 and January 2021.
When we originally applied for funding from KCF, we wanted to ensure everyone had a meal and offer some relief to isolation and loneliness. The KCF funding enabled us to do that in much greater amounts than planned and support those thrown into crisis and desperation as a result of Covid -19.
The beneficiaries of our programme were mostly families and individuals who already struggled to make ends meet. The families we worked with relied on free school meals to feed their children and with schools closed, this just put extreme pressure on them.
Some families said they had to choose between heating the house or buying food; many already had exhausted food bank vouchers and didn't know where to turn.
This Project took the pressure away, relieved stress and allowed parents/carers to relax and be sure that the whole family would all get a meal. This also helped the children to become more settled in a changing environment.
We were also able to ensure that people living alone or just lonely, saw a friendly face once a week or a voice, text at the end of a phone. This was, for some, a vital part of the project, to know that they could reach out if they needed help or support or just a chat.
Most of the interaction was socially distanced on doorsteps as this was what people were missing the most; personal contact with people and not through technology.
We saw a difference in the families and young people each time we dropped off a parcel. The children were telling us about what they had done with the activities and shown us their work. Parents/carers told us that we have changed their lives particularly around Christmas, where we added some Christmas treats and made sure every child got a wrapped present. Many were facing a bleak Christmas and said that the SCT hampers really made a difference and gave them hope.
The Impact this project had was evident in the feedback and messages we received. We were also delighted to see how it impacted the wider community, with many people on our deliveries asking what we were doing and then donating food items to us to add to the hampers.
Many of the local community volunteered to help and we will be keeping in touch with these people for future projects.
It was amazing to see how the community came together and enabled us to extend our offering for a few extra weeks after the planned end date.
Personal Story :
We visited a 90 year old lady who lived alone whom we had been asked to visit by a concerned neighbour. When we arrived, she was overwhelmed with joy and was so grateful. She said that the food parcel would mean she could have a hot meal that day and we spent 30 minutes in the cold on the path chatting to her through a window. She said that we were the only people she had actually seen and spoken to in months apart from neighbours checking in on her. She didn't want us to leave!! She talked about her life and the changes she had seen over the years and was looking forward to COVID being over so she could have a walk out to the shops and see local people again. She said we had given her hope and put a smile on her face.
We worked with local volunteers to deliver food to those who needed it outside of School Holiday periods.
We delivered approximately 410 Food & Activity Hampers throughout December 2020 and January 2021 and into February 2021 impacting about 745 people.
The MUFC fans donated a great deal of food to support this programme. It meant that the funding could go further and help more people. Local people also donated food as we travelled around.
We are looking at ways to fund a regular food hamper service, specifically for older people.
Schools Out
We were successful in obtaining grants from the National League Trust (NLT), The Education People and from Golding Homes to support our Schools Out Programme for 2021. This started from February Half Term.
February Half Term
We made the decision to run a Feb half term programme, despite many others cancelling activities we felt that the families we work with really needed our help and we could do this in a Covid safe environment.
On day 1 it was evident that many children missed breakfast so we, provided breakfast and a hot drink every morning.
Day 2 was pancake day so as part of our activities we made pancakes with the children, which provided a fun session and the children loved making them and eating them!!
Every day all children took part in physical activities ranging from football to athletics and tradition sports day games. We also did and arts and craft session daily. We also made cards for mums/dads or carers to thank them and for mothers’ days.
As with every camp Friday was Maidstone’s Got Talent with each child showing us a talent, which included singing, gymnastics, football skills, etc. We did consider cancelling this as many of the children at the start of the week were very different to how we have seen them before and were very much as the parents had described, but by the time we got to Friday the children had really started to come out of their shell again and back to the children we knew!!
Easter Break
As the pandemic restrictions were starting to be lifted, we planned our Schools Out Programme for the rest of the 2021 holidays, next up was Easter Holidays.
We delivered 9 days of activities, every day as always, the children took part in physical activity and we ensured every child did at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day, as we found some children wanted to spend more time on arts and crafts or on less active projects. This enabled us to support them with physical wellbeing and talk about our mental health and how a healthy lifestyle can help us to feel better all round. We also spent some
time talking about how we feel and how to keep ourselves fit and healthy outside of the schools out sessions.
We couldn’t let Easter go by without making some Easter Hats and the children were delighted to take them home and show them off to their friends and families.
June Half Term
This programme was our healthy eating focus, we did projects throughout the week on healthy plates and how we can make changes in our snacks to stay fit and healthy. We also looked at ways we could help families plan healthy meals on a budget by referring them to support websites and providing a printed meal planner.
The staff team took part, and everyone learnt about the foods eaten in different cultures and the children helped in making a picnic lunch for their families on the Friday (although the weather let us down, but we didn’t let that dampen our spirits and had the picnic indoors !!)
Next comes the big one!!
The Summer Holidays
Summer is a key time for many families, worried about not only occupying their
children but finding additional food for so many weeks can be a real problem for Many. We were delighted therefore to be able to add a 2nd venue for the summer period. We were now able to deliver at Greenfields and Tovil Youth Centre.
As with all our
programmes we are fully inclusive and try to support children with a range of needs, our stats for the summer included children with ADHD, Asperger’s, Autism, Diabetes, and a child that was mute. We made some key adjustments to ensure we could cater for everyone.
We spoke to the parents/carers to find out what interested the children the most and set up activities that they could relate to. We also organised a quiet corner for those that needed to take time out and provided reading books, colouring and snacks so they could take themselves off without judgement or explanation. This was set up within full view of everything else that was
going on so the staff were always aware We also provided a report for a parent who child has some additional needs that were not yet fully diagnosed so that she could take it to his assessment with her.
We worked with the mute child to encourage him to draw or use basic sign language to help us communicate with him. Some of the staff team had a basic level of sign language so we were able to make his time enjoyable and inclusive. His mum said we were the only ones willing to take him on a programme. She said the progress he had made was amazing with eating things he would never try at home and saying Dani (our Camp Managers Name!)
We provided a mix of hot and cold lunches and worked with a local community café who made us healthy pack lunches following the school food standards. This included a range of fruit and vegetables with a sandwich and yoghurt or jelly. We had a fruit and veg table set up throughout the day for children to help themselves. We provided a biscuits and cakes on some days and also had flap jacks. We also had regular barbeques serving burgers and hot dogs with a range of salad and locally sourced salt and sugar free ketchup.
We managed to arrange for Kent Police to come in and meet the children, all the children enjoyed dressing up in police clothing and sitting in the police car, we also had a soft play day with bouncy castles, music and dance sessions as well as weekly healthy eating and mental health sessions and Water Splash days.
We also surveyed the children in a fun art session and 92% of the children expressed sadness, isolation and were scared at home in lockdown. 100% of the children surveyed said that being at Camp made them happy, enjoyed playing with others and made then forget about COVID!! This session was a real eye opener and the children wanted to discuss the current Pandemic and how it made them feel.
We also surveyed the parents but once again, many were reluctant to complete forms so much of the information was gathered informally.
Parent A - Two boys aged 10 – I am a single parent and have really struggled with depression and anxiety during lockdown. These sessions have been great for my boys and given me some time to myself and we all feel much better, thank you all so much.
Parent B – Girl and a Boy aged 9 and 10 – My children have not been out at all unless it is to go to school, these sessions have been amazing as it has given them chance to play again outside and the staff are lovely, they really make them feel at home. They loved the pancake day, and I can’t thank you all enough.
All staff had full PPE and the children knew that we would have regular sanitiser breaks that just became the “norm”. They also understood that the usual high five to the staff and hugging their friends was not allowed. The children used “air hugs” and “fist bumps” and were amazing at supporting each other. They showed true resilience which became a topic for the week. Just because things are not great now it WILL get better!!
We were successful with funding for a Summer Programme to match fund the support from the NLT and Golding Homes. The Education People provided a programme known as Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF) for 2021 which was a government initiative for children after the pandemic. This enabled us to run the programme across 2 centres for July 2021 and August 2021.
We had 2247 attendances across both venues with each child getting a full lunch and whole day of activities ranging from arts and crafts to sport, bouncy castle days, emergency services days, BBQ fun days and much more. Many children had never experienced these activities or had access to these kinds of programme in the past.
We catered for children with a range of needs including ADHD, Aspergers, Autism, and a child that was mute.
We spoke to the parents/carers to find out what interested the children the most and set up activities that they could relate to. We also organised a quiet corner for those that needed to take time out and provided reading books, colouring and snacks so they could take themselves off without judgement or explanation. This was set up within full view of everything else that was going on so the staff were always aware. We also provided a report for a parent whose child has some additional needs that were not yet fully diagnosed so that she could take it to assessments.
We worked with the mute child to encourage him to draw or use basic sign language to help us communicate with him. Some of the staff team had a basic level of sign language so we were able to make his time enjoyable and inclusive. His mum said we were the only ones willing to take him on a programme. She said the progress he had made was amazing with eating things he would never try at home and saying Dani (our Camp Managers Name!)
We provided a mix of hot and cold lunches and worked with a local community café who made us healthy pack lunches following the school food standards. This included a range of fruit and vegetables with a sandwich and yoghurt or jelly. We had a fruit and veg table set up throughout the day for children to help themselves. We
provided biscuits and cakes on some days and also had flap jacks. We also had regular barbeques serving burgers and hot dogs with a range of salad and locally sourced salt and sugar free ketchup.
Our offering also included breakfast which consisted of breakfast bars and toast and some days we had brioche.
Parent A said “you do not know what you have done for me this summer, its been such a challenge during covid and this has been a real experience for the children and given me some much needed support and time to myself, thank you so much !!”
Parent B said: “I would have been totally lost this summer if it wasn’t for camp, trying to feed 4 growing boys is always a challenge so you have really helped me”
Staff Member 1: “Thank you for this opportunity, I wasn’t too sure what I was going to be doing when I applied, but I can honestly say helping the families and children and delivering such fun activities has honestly taught me so much, I thought I was going to be coaching sport but found myself, serving lunches, making arts and crafts and generally doing anything that was needed. I have loved every minute!”
Staff Member 2; “What can I say, it’s the best summer I have ever had, and for such worthy and amazing families, hope I can come back at the next school holiday !”
We invited the parent’s and carers each Friday to take part in some activities with the children and share a lunch. We also gave the parents some games and equipment to take home to play with their children after camp had ended.
Funding has been granted by the NLT and Goldings to deliver our Schools Out programme in October 2021. We will also be applying to HAF for additional funding for a Christmas Programme.
Fit4Life
Due to the pandemic, we were unable to run the Fit4Life programme during our 2020/2021 year. However, we have plans to start a new programme in 2022
Training
Kay Skelton and Katy Skelton completed a Youth Mental Health course to able us to further help young people with the programmes that we deliver.
All summer staff have completed course in Safeguarding, Food Allergy Awareness, Food hygiene and some have completed mental health training as well as First Aid.
More and more funding applications are asking for evidence of training.
Academy Partnership
We had 4 academy players working with us through the summer Schools Out Programme and want to develop this relationship next year.
Maidstone United Raiders FC
On 1 August 2021, the Raiders became part of the SCT. With over 100 pandisability players registered from ages youth to adult, we are planning on expanding and developing this section during 2022.
Summary
Given that the year was during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are extremely pleased with the activities that the SCT has undertaken. This has spurred on to develop and grow the SCT, part of Maidstone United FC.
The Trustees of the Stones Community Trust
For Year Ending 30 September 2021
END OF REPORT
The Stones Community Trust
Profit and Loss Accounts to 30 September 2021
Profit and Loss Account as at 30 September 2021
| Totals | ||
|---|---|---|
| Income | ||
| National League Trust | £20,000.00 | |
| Kent Community Foundation | £2,600.00 | |
| Mask Sales | £338.00 | |
| Donation from Clear MPW | £250.00 | |
| Donation from Allianz | £100.00 | |
| Donation from MUFC | £1,000.00 | |
| Golding Homes | £10,000.00 | |
| The Education People (HAF) | £29,280.00 | |
| CSIS | £1,500.00 | |
| Donations | £100.00 | |
| MU Raiders FC | £8,531.19 | |
| Total Income | £73,699.19 | |
| Expenditure | ||
| Community Development Officer | -£11,192.65 | |
| Pitch/Room Hire | -£4,750.00 | |
| IT/Auditors | -£416.80 | |
| Coaching | -£14,170.00 | |
| Kit/Medals | £0.00 | |
| Resources | -£5,023.60 | |
| MU Raiders FC | -£1,895.39 | |
| Total Expenditure | -£37,448.44 | |
| 2020/2021 Surplus | £36,250.75 | |
| RECONCILE CASH POSITION | ||
| Actual Cash Position at Bank as at 1 October 2020 | £ | 6,281.90 |
| Actual Cash Position at Bank as at 30 September 2021 | £ | 42,532.65 |
| Less Monies Yet to be Paid | £ | - |
| £ | 42,532.65 |
|
| Balance: | £ | 36,250.75 |
The Stones Community Trust Independent ExaTllinerfs Repori To The Trustees Of The Stones Community Trust I report lo Ihe Iruslee5 on my examination of the 8ccouni8 of The Stontss Community Trust for the year ended 30 September 2021. Responslblllties and basls of report As the charity Iruslee5 01 the Trust you are responsiblg lor Ihe preparation of Ihe accounts In accordance with the requirement5 01 the Charities Act 20111.lho Acl'l. I reporl in respect ol my examination of Ihe Trust's accounts carried oul under seclion 145 01 the 2011 Acl and in carrying out my exarninalion I have followed all applicable Directions glven by tha Charity Commission under secllon 14515llbl of the Act. Independcnl examlnerfs staloment I have complelèd my ex8minalion. I cunlirrll Ihal no rnalerial maller5 have corne lo my allenlion in connection with the 8xamin81ion giving m¥ cause lo believe th21 in any malerlal re5pocI'. 1. Accc)unting records were nol kept in respect ul Ihe Trusl as iequired by seclion 130 of the Act,. QT 2. The accoun15 lo not accord wilh those records I have no concems and hgve come across no other mailers In connection with Ihe examlnallon lo whleh allgnllon should be drawn in Ihls repori sn order lo enable a proper un(Jerslandlng ol the accounts lo be rea¢hgd. LotXQS Louca5 Cliarter8d C8rtiried Accounlanls The Carriage House Mill Slreel Maidslone Kenl ME156YE