The Beresford Street Kitchen is aiming to raise £8,500 to buy the vehicle, which it would use to deliver its corporate orders.
The company, which is run by The Aspire Charitable Trust and operates a café and meeting hub in Beresford Street, launched its corporate food service just before Christmas as a way to cover the thousands of pounds per week that it costs to run the facility and train the clients it works with.
Managing director Gabby Ellmers said the business had had a great response to the launch of the new service – which supplies things like sandwich platters and canapés to companies – but that staff now needed a van to help them to transport orders.
‘We are having to do it all on foot at the moment, which is challenging – especially when you have got a lot of orders and the conditions are icy and wet. Last week we actually had to call in some favours to help,’ she said.
‘We don’t get any States funding and we run as a charity and training centre, so our overheads are about £2,500 a week more than a normal café. So there is a huge amount of shortfall, which we are addressing from all angles. One is to increase operations.’
She added: ‘Our corporate service is doing really well, but we are quite limited as we can’t get out of town.’
The charity plans to brand the van and would like to include a message that the vehicle was
paid for by the people of Jersey.
Writing on the group’s Justgiving webpage, the charity says: ‘The more we raise, the more people with learning disabilities and autism can get the training and support they need to reach their full potential and follow their career dreams.
‘We can’t do this without your help, every penny helps, so whether you give £5 or ten it adds up and together we can all make a difference.’
All of the profits from BSK are reinvested back into the charity, which provides pre-employment work placements, traineeships and an apprenticeship scheme.
To donate to the appeal, visit justgiving.com and search for The Beresford Street Kitchen.
