Sunderland AFC Foundation

Sunderland AFC Foundation, the community outreach charity based at Sunderland Football Club, has been running for almost 10 years. It uses the power of football to educate and motivate young people and now helps more than 30,000 children a year through innovative projects, advancing literacy and numeracy and improving confidence and aspirations, as well as raising awareness of citizenship issues and improving employment skills.

The foundation uses ASDAN’s Bronze, Silver and Silver Challenge and last year it successfully applied to ASDAN for a grant of £1,500 (see ASDAN Grants).

The money was used to buy a range of cooking and other equipment, including four ovens, a fridge, utensils, aprons and ingredients, along with a camera. The new equipment enabled staff to put into practice some of the ideas they had wanted to do for some time: teaching more life skills, engaging young people in enterprise ideas and projects, and integrating the young people involved in their three projects: Pitstop, Goal and Going for Goals.

It touches on a number of challenges from different modules, including those focusing on healthy eating, enterprise and numeracy.

Centre co-ordinator Craig Martin said: “A lot of the learners we have on our schemes enjoy more practical-based learning; cooking allows the interaction and learning styles to engage these young people. It also gives us more opportunities to promote healthy lifestyles, independence, practical numeracy skills and communication.

“During the cookery sessions, the young people have learned about measuring, weighing, how to safely operate equipment, hygiene and design.

“Following a series of visits from three business students, it has also allowed the group to implement a few of the basic enterprise ideas that we worked on, such as advertising and using photography to create a recipe book and promote a small business. We have also been able to look at the very basic numeracy side of a business, such as overheads and profit margins.

“The young people have sold their products to Foundation staff and the money raised has been reinvested in the cookery project. Feedback from learners has been extremely positive, with many citing cookery as their favourite activity.”

The integration side has been very important to the Foundation, with young people from their exclusion, intervention and primary groups working together to advertise, bake and sell the products. Learners on all three projects have benefited from the use of the cookery equipment. They have made a variety of dishes, including cup cakes, rock buns, Easter cakes and pies.

Staff report that a lot of the young people have shown more of an interest in cookery since taking part in the taster sessions. There are plenty more plans in the pipeline for learners to don their chef’s hats again in the future.

“We plan to further develop the programme, to include practical sessions on healthy eating, special dietary requirements and planning and making a meal on a budget. We also hope in the future to run a small café, which staff can visit on a weekly basis, not only to eat, but also to chat to the young people about the work they have been doing,” Craig added.