Mmm. Soup. Image kindly supplied by Kate Cardigan of Lichfield Lore.

This Saturday, 20th May 2017 sees the second Chasewater Soup micro funding event at the local Country Park, run by among others, Kate  cardigan from Lichfield Lore – the event takes place from 11am until 1pm.

The idea is to help fund community projects in the area surrounding Chasewater and for organisations, individuals and community groups not just to take part, but get to know each other and form new connections.

There’s a really good explanation of the idea in this article written by Ross Hawkes of the excellent Lichfield Live about the first Chasewater Soup event back in March 2017 – Ross has kindly allowed me to use his article here:

A new project is hoping to help fund community initiatives in and around the Burntwood area.

The Chasewater Soup group will launch next month and invite visitors to hear pitches from organisations wanting to secure a “micro-grant”.

Those attending the meeting pay an entrance fee of £5 which entitles them to a bowl of soup, a bread roll and a vote. Up to four projects then bid for a share of the admission fees.

Kate Gomez, from organisers Simply ABCD, said: “I went to Birmingham Soup last year and was inspired by way it gave anyone with an idea to benefit their community the opportunity to raise some money for it.

“I love that the funds from the soup are democratically given to the idea with the most votes, and that even for those who don’t receive funding, there are loads of benefits to taking part.

“Contacts are made, resources shared and ideas validated. I’m so excited that Chasewater will be hosting a soup and can’t wait to see what brilliant initiatives are put forward.

“It’s going to be great fun for everyone involved.”

The winning group will return to future Chasewater Soup meetings to discuss how their funding has helped to make a difference in the local community.

The Soup fundraising model began in the USA before being developed across the UK.

Cllr Gill Heath, Cabinet member for communities and the environment at Staffordshire County Council, said: “We are very excited to be hosting this event at Chasewater, and hope for a lot of local interest.

“It would be wonderful to be able to set up a Friends of Chasewater group through the Soup initiative, and I would urge the community to come along and get involved.”

Any groups wanting to attend and pitch can download an application form from the Chasewater Facebook group and then emailed to chasewatersoup@yahoo.com.