Aico Strengthening Community Ties with OsNosh
Aico has provided continued support to OsNosh since 2020, in the form of funding educational programmes, weekly colleague volunteer days and fundraising. OsNosh and Aico are delivering their first working in partnership event of 2023, a Charity Dinner which will be held at The Townhouse Bar & Brasserie in Oswestry.
OsNosh is a Community Interest Company, whose partnership developed with Aico during the pandemic, particularly over the lockdowns, colleagues volunteered their time to deliver community meals to vulnerable, isolated people in and around Oswestry.
Since then, Aico has continued to strengthen its partnership with OsNosh providing volunteering support and funding innovative educational projects. On one of their Community Kitchen days, every week, a colleague from Aico volunteers at OsNosh on the food share tables, helping prepare meals in the kitchen, and serving meals to the local community.
Duncan Orr, Regional Specification Manager at Aico recently spent a day with the team at OsNosh, he commented on the experience “OsNosh does fantastic work year-round supporting the local community and creating some amazing meals from scratch using sustainable, fresh ingredients donated from local supermarkets, helping to reduce food waste. It was inspiring to see and a pleasure to be able to help in some small way.”
Over the past year, Aico in the Community has learnt of OsNosh’s passion to use creative cooking to educate and inspire others, they are involved in a variety of educational projects where they share their passion for all things food related.
In 2022, Aico provided the funding required for Osnosh to deliver a hands-on Cookery Programme to students from The Marches School in Oswestry. The programme aims to teach basic kitchen skills, alongside building self-esteem, developing employability skills and creating an inclusive learning experience different to the traditional classroom setting.
These sessions also explore the environmental and social impact of food waste and how this can be addressed, as well as changing the attitudes of an important generation at a critical time.
Ben Wilson, one of the Directors at OsNosh added “Since starting our project teaching cookery skills to disengaged students for The Marches School, we have seen some incredible changes. We have seen young people come out of themselves, gaining confidence and self-esteem; we have seen students who are usually disruptive become focused and cautious; we’ve seen some students’ love of food blossom into a want to find a career as a chef. We’ve even seen tears of joy from teachers.
None of this would have been possible without Aico’s enduring funding, support and belief in the importance and value of this project, and of the students themselves. Likewise, none of this would have been possible without the dedication, compassion and professionalism of Justine Holdsworth from The Marches School.”
Following the success of an initial pilot programme and ongoing funding from Aico, OsNosh is now able to expand this programme, develop community links and invest in the young people of Oswestry.
We are looking forward to our next working in partnership event, a Charity Dinner which will be held at The Townhouse Bar & Brasserie in Oswestry, on Monday 27th March 2023. This will be an opportunity for the local community and supporters of OsNosh to experience and enjoy a 3-course meal prepared, cooked and served by the students in a real award-winning restaurant.
OsNosh and Aico would like to thank The Townhouse and their team for supporting the event and offering their facilities to ensure The Charity Dinner is a great success. All funds raised will help OsNosh continue the great work they are doing to support our local community.
To find out more about OsNosh please visit – osnosh.co.uk
