Bath College lends its support to new crowdfunding event raising money for local charities and organisations

Bath College is supporting a new crowdfunding initiative called the Bath Soup Project, set up to raise money for local charities and community organisations.

The Bath Soup Project stems from a simple idea. Guests pay £5 on the door and are given a bowl of soup and a chunk of break. They listen to five pitches from five different projects, and vote for best one (which receives the money collected on the door).

At the second Bath Soup Project, FoodCycle Bath won £300 towards its work tackling food waste. The volunteer-run project will use the money to buy new baking trays.

Volunteers for FoodCycle Bath have been serving delicious three-course meals made from surplus food since 2012. Meals take place every Wednesday at 7.30pm and everyone is welcome.

Those pitching at the second Bath Soup Project included the Keynsham Kindness project, Mentoring Plus, Bath Welcomes Refugees and Sporting Family Change.

The event took place at Bath College’s Shrubbery Restaurant and was organised by HND business students at the college, who gave up their time to volunteer during the evening.

Although only one project took the money home, all projects received further offers of support.

Carole Rust, who led the pitch for FoodCycle Bath, said: “The evening has been a great opportunity for sharing contacts and knowledge.

“It’s a bit like our FoodCycle meals – you don’t know what those ingredients are going to do when they’re put together but often the result is awesome. I had no idea we would win the pitch.”

Employability adviser Lucy Beattie worked with the Bath College students and The Volunteer Centre to plan the event.

She said: “It was a great success, giving the students a chance to work on a live community event and for all of us to hear more about the amazing projects going on in our community.

“It was great to hear how Southside Youth Mentoring are using the funds from the first Soup Project to train their peer mentors and to see new projects being planned for Bath.”

The next Bath Soup Project event is planned for October, follow @bathsoupproject on Twitter for updates.                               n