This year sees us hand over our final instalment to Beresford Street Kitchen as part of our three-year commitment to the social enterprise, helping more people with learning difficulties experience meaningful work.  

 

It has been so rewarding to see this enterprise blossom and grow over the years, alongside the apprentice we have supported. Through our funding, Jennifer Crocker has worked her way through the BSK programme, enjoying huge success and participating in work experience at their catering outlet at the Police Headquarters. The St Helier café has not only provided us with a great base for corporate events and meetings, but it is nice to be able to visit for coffee and see first-hand the good work that our donation has contributed towards. 

 

Now in our final year of partnership with the social enterprise we are delighted to see them launch their new Bursary Scheme, encouraging more customers and corporates to follow in our footsteps and financially support crew members through their journey on the programme. It costs £9,750 to put each crew member through the programme per year, funding relevant Support Workers and providing them with education and training opportunities. 

 

Georgie Dodd, Fundraising Manager at BSK, said: “Firms like Optimus Recruitment have acted as a catalyst to us setting up the Bursary Scheme as we saw the potential in aligning our supporters with individual crew members to help fund their journey through the programme. When we first launched the social enterprise in 2017, we had a lot of attention, grants and donations, but we would expect this naturally to become diluted the longer the business is running, which is why we need a new scheme to help up adopt a more sustainable approach.” 

 

We would encourage anyone to visit the BSK café in Beresford Street in person and to join in with their Bursary Scheme. We believe that everyone is entitled to meaningful and enjoyable work, as recruiters it is the foundation of our business model! With more financial support BSK will be able to offer more places to crew members, reducing the waiting list of people who want to join. 

 

To find out how you could support the BSK Bursary Scheme please visit the BSK page - beresfordstreetkitchen.je