We acknowledge that it’s not a great look to be late for your own Birthday Party – however on reflection recent events summed up the successes of the year and what drives us to continue supporting those in the community.
Running Heather House Community Cafe on its birthday with our monthly Age UK Kent Rivers Dementia group in for breakfast and morning catch up is always a pleasure to host and catch up with the group. Local MP Kevin McKenna has visited for his community coffee morning, (co-attended by Tim Gibson from Swale Borough Council) and monthly community 121 sessions. To have access to your MP on your doorstep in Sittingbourne is great to see and is a great facilitator for raising topics that are important to the community.
I always enjoy getting hands on with the team, welcoming and chatting with those that come and visit us at the Café. It’s great to see and hear the place alive and providing affordable meals in a welcoming, safe, warm space. Our FREE community fridge has been popular with visitors and access our low cost community freezer which is fully stocked at the moment thanks to M&S Foodhall Sittingbourne and Kemsley Food Pantry. 
To top the day off some of our donated items and our Café Pay it forward scheme helped two homeless gentlemen that had been signposted to us. This is only possible from your donations and our café visitors donating to our Pay it Forward scheme. Thankyou so much. 
Outputs
A summary of the achievements of the team, our volunteers and those who have donated to our Charity over the year:
432 Emergency Food parcels distributed
Supporting 1,086 people
Distributing 11.3t of food surplus & avoiding food waste, supporting local foodbanks.
Community Café Opened October 2024
@ Café 1,493 warm meals served 
@ Café 2,481 warm drinks served 
@ Café 100+ community group sessions
Volunteers in the team – 22
Volunteer hours donated 4,373 hrs 
School & College work experience placements
Duke of Edinburgh Award volunteering placements
It’s been an amazing second year achieving our core Charity objectives and expanding the support for the local community. The Café alone has seen the addition of energy efficient lighting 
, baby changing facilities 
, induction loop support for those with hearing challenges 
, community 24/7 defibrillator 
, the list goes on.
, baby changing facilities , induction loop support for those with hearing challenges , community 24/7 defibrillator , the list goes on.This would not have been possible without the loving support of our volunteers, Sittingbourne and Sheppey helping Ukraine-SSHU, Age UK Kent Rivers and you – our community.
I am sure the list of memories, events, collaborations, conversations and activities could almost write its own book – and I am sure I have missed out several chapters worth in this post! 
Thankyou
A massive thankyou to those that have helped, supported and encouraged over the course of the year. We look forward to continuing this journey with you and providing greater support to those in need. You are always welcome to pop in to the café or drop us a message or email with ideas on extra support services, gaps in the system where people need help or even events that would help bring those more isolated in the community together – we are up for the challenge.
No good deed should go unrecognised so some thankyou’s to those that have helped our journey and those that we do our best to make life a better place: 
A special thankyou to Michelle Henneker & Sittingbourne and Sheppey helping Ukraine-SSHU whose partnership has been the foundation to making Heather House Community Cafe the success it been and will continue to grow from
Continued thanks and gratitude go to:
Lidl Sittingbourne
Nisa Iwade
Asda Sittingbourne
Whitehead Monkton Charitable Trust
The Albert Hunt Trust
The Allen Lane Foundation
The Cole Charitable Trust
Argos Sittingbourne
2025/26……. To be continued 