Volunteer Trailblazers: Community Kitchen Glos
In the heart of Gloucester, there’s an organisation cooking up community spirit alongside delicious meals. Community Kitchen Glos, based at St John’s Church Hall in Gloucester, provides hot 3-course meals to anyone in the city who needs it, working hard to create a restaurant atmosphere for guests to relax and enjoy themselves. Every Monday, a dedicated team of volunteers cook and serve delicious food to anyone who walks through their doors. Read on to find out more about this amazing organisation!
Volunteers at the Heart of the Mission
The Trustees of Community Kitchen Glos are committed to volunteer empowerment. This isn't a top-down charity; it's a collaborative community effort where volunteers are the driving force.
The volunteers don't just serve meals – they shape the organisation's direction, explains Trustee Dave; “the way we’ve brought the charity together, the volunteers run the charity. They elect the trustee board; they take part in our AGM and our meetings.” Volunteers are really at the core of everything they do.
After each service, the team comes together for a de-brief. They celebrate their achievements, share the number of guests served, and crucially, the Trustees listen. "We will always take people's ideas on," Dave emphasises. This adaptive approach ensures the kitchen continuously evolves to meet changing community needs. Trustee Molly says,
“People come back again and again; they really like it. We worked really hard to listen to feedback from the first few volunteers, and we never get stuck in our ways … it’s really important to us to keep adapting and improving and changing it, as the needs change, as the volunteers change.”
Breaking Down Barriers to Volunteering
Community Kitchen Glos has developed a really accessible approach to volunteer recruitment. There are no interviews or strict requirements, Molly and Dave say, “when they come here for the induction, that’s when we have conversations about reasonable adjustments, what their expectations are. We don’t require them to demonstrate they can do something."
They have a flexible booking system that allows people to help as much or as little as they can manage. They aim to have more volunteers than they strictly need, as Molly says, “we think it’s really important to have people free to go and sit down, that it feels calm, and the volunteers can enjoy their time here.”
How Go Volunteer Glos Supports Their Work
We are so proud to say that through Go Volunteer Glos, Community Kitchen Glos has been able to recruit over 30 new volunteers. Molly and Dave love being able to tap into our pool of volunteers, and that they are able to operate their amazing service because of the great people they’ve found through Go Volunteer Glos.
They also love the diversity of volunteers they’ve found through us, Molly explains, “there’s a real diverse range of volunteers. We’ve had all types of volunteers through [Go Volunteer Glos], which is exactly what we want. That’s what makes us such a good community.”
A Vision Beyond Meals
Community Kitchen Glos provides a critical service. Every Monday, they serve around 60 three-course sit-down meals, offering not just nourishment, but a warm, dignified dining experience for those who might otherwise struggle to enjoy a restaurant meal. "We see ourselves here to do good in the community," Molly shares. "We would like food banks to not exist, ultimately. We want to get to a point where everyone's got enough food. In the meantime, we’re doing good for our guests who need to eat."
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