Starter Packs Glasgow have been helping people across Greater Glasgow for the past 21 years.
They supply packs of essential household items to people moving into a new tenancy after homelessness or moving on from care, prison, fire, floods, or fleeing domestic violence or relationship breakdowns. They make sure people have the basic needs to get settled into their new home. Packs include crockery, kettles, toasters, pots, pans, bedding, towels, toiletries, and cleaning products. These pack help empower people to build a new life while also easing financial burdens. These packs also allow people to settle into their new home more quickly and comfortably.
Starter packs Glasgow will use their grant money to bulk buy some essential bathroom items to be included in their starter packs. To find out more about Starter Packs Glasgow, you can visit their website here.
The June McInvest winner for 2024 is Carefree Kids East Lothian. Established in December 1999, Carefree Kids aims to assist children and their parents by offering services that address challenges stemming from poverty and social exclusion.
Carefree Kids receives referrals from schools, social workers, and family support workers for school uniforms.
With funding, Carefree Kids can buy school uniforms, ensuring that every child has access to appropriate clothing without placing a financial strain on their parents. This allows children to dress similarly to their peers, alleviating the pressure of feeling out of place and worrying about bullying due to differences. As a result, children can fully engage in and enjoy their school experience.
While Carefree Kids often receives generous donations of gently used uniform items, there is still a frequent need to purchase additional items, particularly for younger children and those in secondary school.
To find out more information about Carefree Kids East Lothian, you can visit their website here.
This year McIntosh of Strathmore teamed up with Lochside Connections to help bring a fantastic Burns Night Celebration to those living with dementia and their families/carers.
Lochside Connections is a Dementia meeting centre in Forfar, solely run by charity funding and donations. Their ethos is to provide a warm, inclusive and supportive environment for those living with dementia and their families and carers. Lochside Connections is ran by a small team of 3 core staff and a group of volunteers.
This year, Lochside Connections held three Burns Supper events for all the members that attend over the three days that they are open. The Haggis and Vegetarian Haggis, Neeps and Tatties meals were donated by Strathmore Foods (McIntosh of Strathmore).
The members of Lochside Connections thoroughly enjoyed their Burns Supper celebration and their delicious traditional Haggis, Neeps and Tatties meals.
If you would like to find out more information about Lochside Connections, you can visit their website here. https://lochsideconnections.co.uk/
Jings! Oor Wullie has offered to make our burns supper this year
Are you looking for a fun and easy way to celebrate Burns Night this year? Look no further! McIntosh has teamed up with beloved Scottish comic book character Oor Willie and DC Thomson to offer a limited edition pack featuring an Oor Wullie comic strip, available on our Haggis Neeps & Tatties and Vegetarian Haggis Neeps & Tatties products across Scotland from the 3rd of January.
For those who may not know, Burns Night is a celebration of the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns and takes place on the 25th of January. By purchasing one of these limited edition packs, you can take the hassle out of cooking and have a delicious Burns Night meal ready in minutes. Each meal is packed with homemade haggis, British neeps, and Scottish fluffy tatties, making it the perfect meal for any Burns Night celebration.
To find the limited-edition packaging near you, use the handy stockist finder provided Here. And if you’re curious about how Oor Wullie cooked up a delicious Burns night dinner in minutes, be sure to check out the full comic strip below.
So why not add some fun to your Burns Night celebration this year with McIntosh and Oor Wullie? With this limited edition pack, you can enjoy a delicious meal and a little bit of Scottish comic book history all in one.
Scottish Disability Golf and Curling offers support and encouragement to disabled golfers of any ability. Through the years, they have encouraged and supported hundreds of golfers to get back in the game while supporting recovery and building up their courage to continue playing a game they love.
The SDGC also organise competitions for disabled golfers from all over the world. The Phoenix Cup is the only fully inclusive amateur match team golf event in the world! The 30th Phoenix Cup will adopt the “Ryder Cup” format. The event will take place in October 2024 in St Andrews with support from the St Andrews Links Trust, which will provide use of the New Course, the Old Course and the Jubilee Course. Funding will go towards team shirts, transport and accommodation for the Golfers.
You can find out more about Scottish Disability Golf and Curling on their website here.
Eat, Sleep, Ride, CIC are an off-grid community farm that is committed to fostering wellness, empowerment and sustainability.
Their mission is to empower young individuals to become a catalyst for positive change. Through a diverse array of educational, therapeutic and community initiatives, they provide support to individuals on their path towards professional growth.
Funding will go towards creating a new sensory garden which will include a pond growing area, tactile planting and a play area. Eat, Sleep, Ride, CIC aim to create a vibrant and inclusive space where individuals of all abilities can connect with nature. This space will enrich the lives of their community members, offering a sensory haven for learning, relaxation and play, while promoting sustainable practices and environmental awareness.
Eat, Sleep, Ride, CIC are located in Lamberton, within East Berwickshire. You can find out more about them here www.eatsleeprides.org
House of Seisay is a charitable enterprise founded in 2022. They provide a community-led initiative that aims to support care experienced young people by providing opportunities within the Haus of Seisay Hairdressing Academy.
This initiative allows care experienced young people, who are very often dealing with a variety of complex needs when making the transition to leave the care setting, with a range of practical and therapeutic activities and life skills that will facilitate a positive outcome to enable them to move on with their lives.
Whilst the primary focus is within a salon environment, Haus of Seisay uses a holistic approach to meet the young person’s needs. This includes health and well-being activities, training, peer mentoring, volunteering opportunities and work experience. These activities are provided by trained and experienced individuals with peer support and will alleviate the social isolation and loneliness many care experienced people feel through not having the support of a family environment.
Funding allows care experienced young people to obtain the confidence and skills required to be supported within a nurturing environment, whilst reducing social isolation they may be experiencing. This is achieved through building and maintaining positive relationships, which will help them be better connected to their communities.
Although a new organisation, Haus of Seisay are embedded within their local community and considers itself to be a cohesive provision, engaging with a range of relevant partners and agencies across all sectors.
Under the Trees is an outdoor learning charity based in Falkirk. They work with all age groups, backgrounds, and abilities within the community, providing them with the opportunities to come outdoors, engage with our natural world and connect with each other.
They provide a wide range of activities including:
- Forest School
- Environmental Education
- Training
- Volunteering
- Mental Health and Wellbeing Groups
- Low-pressure Cycling and Cooking
- Family and Public Events
- Holiday Clubs
With this grant, Under The Trees are going to purchase wildlife cameras to allow local schools and groups to learn and discover more about wildlife on their doorstep.
To learn more about Under The Trees, visit their website here: https://www.underthetrees.co.uk/
We are pleased to have won the Top Campaign of 2022, chilled/ready meal category, in The Grocer.
The Star of our advert, Mr Wilson is happily cleaning his car when a mud-covered football flies over the fence he shares with his neighbour, dirtying the car he has spent so long polishing. The ‘Ping’ of the microwave then takes us to a calm Mr Wilson who is enjoying his favourite McIntosh dish in no time.
This TV Advert was made with the consumers in mind. We found that consumers were more likely to grab a ready meal when they are short on time. ‘When Life Takes the Ping’ shows that McIntosh is always there when things don’t go to plan.
You can read the full article here https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/marketing/top-campaigns-2022-the-most-influential-adverts-in-food-and-drink/674656.article
You might have seen our ‘When Life Takes the Ping’ campaign running on TV over the last few months but If you haven’t, you can watch it here.
Courage Together exists to provide BAME community funding to families who have no support. They help families cover the basic necessities such as food as well as practical support by providing small emergency grants. They also run a free weekly class aimed at special needs children from the BAME community where they engage them in different activities. Funding is particularly useful for helping to purchase supplies and toys for the children to use during the class.
They consist of a group of wonderful volunteers and the charity runs solely on donations.
“We rely entirely on donations and with the economic situation, families, (especially those from the BAME community who we support ) are feeling the impact and so are not able to donate thereby limiting the activities we can do.
We are run entirely by volunteers and this much needed and generous grant will allow us to buy sensory toys and equipment for our special needs children and materials for arts and crafts which will keep the children stimulated. We will also be able to provide some fruit for the kids when they come.
Without this generous grant we could not provide the level of interaction and education for these most vulnerable children as we’d like. We are very grateful to you for your support and belief in our work.” (Sue Cook, Courage Together)
To learn more about the charity or donate, visit their website here: https://www.couragetogether.org
