Growing for Green

BITA member support fuels Cork charity expansion

Cork based charity, Penny Dinners, will be able to feed many more people across the city now they are working with Cork County Council and BITA member Tower Gardens to provide home grown vegetables to local disadvantaged people. The partnership, facilitated by BITA President Paul Whitnell was financed by BITA member businesses Glencar, CField Construction, PJ Hegarty, and Ardent Tide.

The charity was founded in 1840, and their ethos is to “operate for as long as there is a need. To feed one person who is hungry is a worthwhile, simple, fundamental way to help that person.

The aim is to provide a warm, dry place to sit and eat, with a welcoming atmosphere, no questions asked, no judgements made all, are welcomed with courtesy. Service Users are expected to treat volunteers and facilities with the same respect and dignity that they are offered.”

Cork Penny Dinners (CPD) spoke at the BITA Networking Lunch and Exhibition in Cork on the 27th October 2022. They explained the crucial work that they do for people in the area that are struggling to get food on the table and detailed their work with the displaced in Ukraine. Moved to try and help beyond just making donations, the business in the room wanted to provide further and sustainable support to the charity.

Paul Whitnell introduced the charity to BITA member Tower Gardens, who manufacture an aeroponic growing system that can easily grow fresh healthy food at home, in limited space, year-round. Working with the Cork Council, CPD can now provide their service users with high quality vegetables, and even sell any excess produce to raise funds. Businesses Ardent Tide, Glencar, CField Construction and PJ Hegarty generously supported the initial set up costs, and the programme will be self-supporting moving forward.

Tower Garden will be arranging training and providing the plants and maintenance, to ensure the best performance from their system, and to maximise the amount of fresh healthy food on offer to Cork residents in need of a little extra help.

CPD Volunteer Coordinator, Caitriona Twomey, said “We have expanded from offering 150 meals a week, to 2,000. The pressure on our services is massive, especially as all our staff are volunteers.

We distribute food packages with tinned and dried food, as they have shelf-life, but have always been short of fresh food. With this new partnership, we can provide our clients with fresh and healthy food, produced on our premises, with minimal effort from our volunteers. Eating healthy should be accessible to all, and we’re thrilled we are taking a step to make this a reality.”

There are many businesses keen to help their communities, but they don’t always know where to put their resources for maximum benefit. Networking organisations like BITA can join the dots between local needs and business capital to provide the best help for local communities. We urge councils to reach out to businesses and networking organisations and use their knowledge and contacts to help local people where it’s needed.

If you would like to support Penny Dinners with this or other initiatives, they will be very keen to speak with you! Please contact them on 00 353 (0)21 4275604