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IDRM Partners With Local Charities, SOFEA and Beauty Banks
The Institute of Developmental & Regenerative Medicine has set up a collaboration with local charities SOFEA and Beauty Banks.
Andrew Brogden, IDRM's Deputy Building and Facilities Manager, discovered Beauty Banks whilst looking into sustainable schemes and initiatives. He subsequently installed a beauty bank within the IDRM where staff can drop off unused and unopened beauty and hygiene products.
Andrew initiated talks with Beauty Banks to determine how to set up a donation box, organise collections, and promote the initiative. Beauty Banks then partnered the IDRM with SOFEA, an organisation helping to transform local communities via purpose projects such as community larders and food surplus distribution.
The local community larders are run by SOFEA, and proceeds from larder subscriptions go towards funding SOFEA's charity school. The IDRM now has a group of staff and student volunteers who deliver donations to SOFEA-managed community larders.
SOFEA's overarching mission is to enable people to transform their lives, and their communities, with a major focus on young people. They do this through skill-building work experience, study initiatives, mental health and wellbeing support, and purpose projects.
After talking to SOFEA member and English teacher Leon Carter, Andrew learned that the charity was in the process of setting up a teaching lab for their charity school, in the hopes of offering practical science lessons to young people.
Andrew and Tomoko Watanabe, an IDRM postdoctoral researcher coordinating many STEM outreach initiatives, visited the SOFEA site to build on the institute's relationship with the charity and discuss how we can support them. They also brought over some lab consumables, such as pipettes, tips and Eppendorf tubes for use in SOFEA's teaching lab.
The IDRM is looking forward to seeing how it can support some of the STEM initiatives being offered by SOFEA in the future.
To learn more about the charities and larders the IDRM partners with, visit the links below:
SOFEA: Enabling people to transform their lives
Rose Hill Community Larder | Facebook
Blackbird Leys Larder - Official