Breaking Bread, Breaking Boundaries.
Loaves of Love is proud to be supported by The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Community Foundation and The National Lottery Community Fund.
Lottery Comunity Fund Project ID: 20215401 Project name: Loaves of Love
Changing Lives, Building Friendships, & Crossing Boundaries
Right: Info & statistics from the Red Cross; https://www.redcross.org.uk/
%
...That's 1 in every 97 worldwide, have been forced to flee their homes.
UK applications for asylum in 2020 (including dependants)
%
of asylum seekers in the UK in 2020 were women and children. [Approx].
When a few months ago I was invited to bakery classes, I felt shy, for me English cuisine was totally new, from the ingredients, kitchen utensils, flavors. Even using the oven to make the recipes at home was difficult for me. But our teachers and all the volunteers helped me lose my fear, learn to follow the instructions that, despite the difficulty of the language, help us with a lot of patience and love in each class.
Now at home my family and friends can enjoy new and delicious recipes. And I feel motivated to continue learning. I can only thank you for all the effort and time you dedicate to teaching us Loaves of Love ❤️🍞.
What We Do
Loaves of Love was created out of a wish to help and support marginalised women in our local community. We bring women together through the medium of baking to help them feel welcome and valued in the community.
Our classes started on Friday 5 November 2021 thanks to an early donation from The British Red Cross which allowed us to purchase the basic equipment and ingredients needed to get started.
Our team of volunteers includes local professional chefs who started the classes with basic doughs (Irish soda bread and pizza dough). Check out our Facebook and Instagram pages for pictures of what we have been up to.
For this project to be a success, we need to pay for the following:
- The venue – a large kitchen space in Pompey in the Community – this costs £66 for 3 hours each session
- The ingredients – we usually need large quantities of basic things such as flour, yeast, butter, oil, sugar, spices, eggs and milk. Then we need the ingredients specific to the recipe we are making. The total cost for one session for 16 people (15 participants and 1 teacher) can vary from £35 to £50
- The equipment – we need more mixing bowls, scales, rolling pins, wooden spoons and bread pans. Storage containers would also help to ensure all the dry ingredients are packed neatly and safely
If you’d like to find out how you can help us in our work, please contact us for more info.
Our Mission
- Enable local marginalised women to rebuild their confidence and
self-esteem - Provide a safe environment to support the emotional needs of vulnerable local women to relax, interact with each other and develop connections, skills and confidence
- Support female refugees in overcoming culture and language barriers
while celebrating and sharing their own cultures - Promote contact and cultural exchange with the wider community
Suitable for…
Marginalised women local to Portsmouth, UK, who may be:
- Refugee women
- Rape and domestic violence victims
- Vulnerable women
What will we be baking?
Below are some of the excellent recipes our chefs have come up with for future classes.
-Scones
-Pinwheel pizzas
-Multi-seed bread rolls
-Quick flatbreads
-Cinnamon buns
-Chocolate & hazelnut star bread
-Corn bread
-Saffron buns
-Milk bread rolls
-Iced buns
-Olive breadsticks
-Calzones
-Cheese & Garlic tear and share bread
How You Can Get Involved?
Contact Us to get Involved.
Loves of Love, community group wishlist...
Outlined below are the basic needs of the project for us to continue to provide our service. These needs are currently met through your generous donations of goods and funds.
Equipment needed: cling film, parchment paper, aluminium foil, storage containers of various sizes for dry ingredients, plastic carriers for the finished baked goods to be transported, bin liners, cleaning stuff (sponges, washing up liquid, and disinfectant)
Food needed on a regular basis: Flours, yeast, oils, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, milk, butter, sugars, spices, eggs… (Contact us for more details as our recipes change for each class)
Last but not least, more volunteers are always needed: we need chefs to lead the lessons, people to help set up the room and support the participants during the class, administrators to organise the sessions, internet wizards to help with our social media presence… all of our volunteers give freely their time to enable us to keep on helping refugee and other marginalised women in our local community. Thank you all!
If you’d like to find out how you can help us in our work, please Contact us for more info.
Get in Touch. Get Involved.
We'd love to hear from you! Whether you are interested in getting involved, or if you just want to find out more about us, please use the form below to contact us.