Today at our 2024 AGM we were thrilled to announce that Havens Community Cars CIO has received The King’s Award For Voluntary Service. We joined together with our team and volunteers to celebrate and to discuss the future of Havens Community Cars.

This is the highest award a local voluntary group can receive in the UK and is equivalent to an MBE. We would like to wish our volunteer team a huge congratulations as they really go above and beyond for the Cars Scheme, supporting the community enormously.

Our thanks were echoed by Councillor Lesley Boniface Chair of Lewes District Council at the AGM and the LDC Leader Councillor Zoe Nicholson on the council webcast.

To get involved with our project and for more details of how to volunteer visit: https://www.havenscommunityhub.co.uk/communitycars

Havens Connections Cafe is now taking booking for Christmas Dinners!

Contact Cafe Manager Julia for more info and to book: havensconnectionscafe@gmail.com or visit the Cafe and enquire.

Havens Support & Volunteer Hub is offering face-to-face drop-in services at locations around the Havens.

It is an information giving service to support people with a range of topics from Connecting with Local Services, Navigating Online information, Cost of Living Support and Volunteering Opportunities.

Our network of partners and support groups mean that we can assist with a wide range of areas, that our research shows that there is a need for additional support with.

Come and TALK to us

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We will take TIME - to help, chat, print a document, fill out a form, sit with us and talk, face to face, over a cuppa.

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ASK us anything - from money guidance, housing, food support, volunteering opportunities, travel planning, benefits information and much more.

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We will LISTEN and provide a friendly, helpful, ear and you will only have to tell your story once. You will not have to repeat the same information to each group that can help you.

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Our KNOWLEDGEABLE and helpful team will offer you information, guidance and support. We will connect you to right person to assist you.

Along with our other Havens projects we are uniquely positioned to become the one place to go to for community needs. Contact Jacquihavenshub@gmail.com for more information.

The Mayor of Newhaven, Councillor Pinky McLean-Knight, recently visited Julia Dunstan, Café Manager at our Havens Connections Café based in the Hillcrest Centre, Newhaven.

Julia was pleased to welcome Mayor Pinky to the Café and engage in a discussion about expanding access to food support within our community. Founder and Director of the Havens Community Hub, Paula Woolven, joined the conversation, highlighting the main aims of the newly founded Havens Connections Café. Paula emphasised, “Everyone deserves access to good food and a warm environment,” and shared that “Havens Connections Café is a place where we can all unite, support one another, and foster connections within our community.”

The visit underscored the commitment to enhancing food accessibility and community wellbeing through collaborative efforts. Mayor Pinky expressed her admiration for the café’s mission, remarking on the positive impact it brings to Newhaven by encouraging inclusivity and offering a safe space where everyone is welcome.

If you’d like to support our 'Pay-It-Forward' scheme and help make a difference, you can donate via https://localgiving.org/fundraising/payitforwardcafe .

Every contribution helps us continue building a connected, supported community.

On Thursday 17 October 2024, the Chair of Lewes District Council, Cllr Lesley Boniface, visited Havens Community Hub as part of her Theme of Office visits.

Cllr Boniface said, "I have been aware of Havens Community Hub's enormous impact in the community since I saw them step up their provision during the pandemic in 2020. What I love about the organisation is the links between their projects - I saw people at the Happy Clubs who are also helped by the Community Car service and the Food Cooperative, it's a 'wrap around' caring community of volunteers and workers who are able to deal with all of the aspects people might face from the cost of living crisis and preventing isolation and loneliness."

Cllr Boniface had a busy schedule visiting all the parts of the Hub including the Havens Food Cooperative, where she helped with one of the surplus food hauls, the Havens Happy Clubs, where she joined in the fun for an afternoon with members and finally the Havens Connections Café, to have a delicious lunch made by Chef Julia alongside a chat about how Havens Community Cars is supporting people with transport in the community.

Cllr Boniface said, "I'm amazed at how much the Hub and its projects and legacy charities are able to do" and "I saw again how their ethos 'we'll find a way - or make a way' is true. The volunteers and staff are incredible. I've also seen how they have been helping the Hillcrest Community Centre and I'm very excited for the revived 'Heart of the Community' now that the Community Café has been re-opened, with new bookings, activities and visitors."

Havens Community Hub were so pleased that Councillor Lesley Boniface could join us for a day and get involved in all the activities of the Hub and it’s legacy charities.

Thank you to everyone who visited us at Havens Community Hub this year for our annual Trick or Treat Pitstop! We had approximately 500 visitors at our haunted circus themed Hub! We loved all the costumes and hope you all enjoyed our Haunted Circus Trick or Treat Pitstop!

Special thanks to our Havens Food Cooperative Manager Rebecca for organising the event and to the volunteers Sam, Dez, Jasz and Ed for helping with decorations and delicious pumpkin pies!

A big thank you also to our Havens Connections Cafe Manager, Julia and volunteers, for preparing some delicious pumpkin themed treats using surplus food! We had tasty pumpkin flapjacks, cookies, cupcakes, soup and pastries!

And thank you to Hubbub for funding this event through the #EatYourPumpkin scheme!

Known as the 'heart' of the Hillcrest Community Centre in Newhaven, the recently closed community cafe built connections, fostered community spirit, promoted local well-being, and provided low-cost, quality refreshments for over twenty-five years.

Havens Community Hub has leased the cafe, and it will re-open with a limited menu from Monday, 5th August, with a full opening planned for September, when they will also be opening a support hub in the Centre. Havens Community Hub supports, connects and creates projects where there is an unmet community need and has already formed Havens Community Cars volunteer driver service, Havens Happy Clubs for older people with complex needs and Havens Food Cooperative, which prevents the waste of over three tonnes of edible produce per week.

"Our ethos is to 'find a way, or make a way,'" said the Hub's founder, Paula Woolven, "we think that it is vital for the Centre to have a thriving cafe again, and basing our services there, too, makes perfect sense. We will be in the middle of the area that we cover—Saltdean to Seaford—and will be working hard with the Trustees, staff, and volunteers of the Hillcrest Centre to ensure the venue thrives fo generations to come."

For more information on the Hillcrest Centre, which is available for bookings, see www.hillcrestcentre.co.uk

For more information on Havens Community Hub, see www.havenscommunityhub.co.uk

On July 7th the team at Liftmaster UK will be participating in this years Lewes to Newhaven Raft Race.
This years theme is "Wacky Racers" participants create your own Wacky Racer to take on the challenge. The team at Liftmaster have described the event as “mad, painful, brutal, but brilliant”.

We are overjoyed that they have chosen to support Havens Community Hub and Food Cooperative, and hope that you will go and sponsor them here

The Founder of Havens Community Hub (Havens Food Cooperative Havens Happy Clubs Havens Community Cars CIO) Paula Woolven, attended an Investiture Ceremony at Lewes Town Hall on Thursday 30th May with her family and attended a rather wet garden party at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday 20th May with Dawn Norman, Hub Senior Manager.

Paula was awarded the British Empire Medal (B.E.M) for her years of community service, in particular how Havens Community Hub stepped up their work during the Covid 19 Pandemic.

She was presented with the medal by Mr Andrew Blackman CStJ, His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant for East Sussex at a lunchtime event hosted by the Mayor of Lewes, Councillor Imogen Makepeace, with the High Sheriff, Lucinda Fraser DL and Juliet Olsworth-Peter JP DL in attendance.

Her citation was read out by Paul Davis, Deputy Lieutenant. It included references to her work with the Havens charities and projects and her years of fundraising and volunteering for other charities including Seaford Musical Theatre, DaSH Junior Football Club and Community Transport for the Lewes Area. To date, Paula has raised over a million pounds for East Sussex charities and good causes and remains on the front line of vital work in the Lewes District

She dedicated the award to the volunteers and staff at Havens Hub, Food Coop, Happy Clubs and Community Cars and says she is grateful for the hundreds of people who have helped her in her charitable endeavours.

She was inspired by her mother, Marilyn Nolan (pictured), who was herself awarded the B.E.M. in 2016, for a lifetime of volunteering.

This week marks the 40th Anniversary of Volunteer’s Week, the official time for us to celebrate those who volunteer within our society.

The various branches of Havens are absolutely delighted to take some time to celoebrate the achievments of our incredible volunteers. Without their tireless and selfless work, we would not be able to deliver any of the support that we do.

We absolutely love all our volunteers! From our drivers to our food collectors, our Happy Club supporters and everyone else that ever lends a hand, please know that you make an enormous difference to people’s lives in your community!

Over on our social media channels we will be running a series of short videos this week where you can get to know some of the volunteers and find out what they do.

If you would like to volunteer please have a look at our volunteering section and get in contact!

We are delighted to announce that Incoming mayor of Newhaven, Pinky McLean-Knight, has selected Haven’s Food Cooperative to be her charity of the year, during her Mayoral tenure.

Pinky said “My chosen Charity this year is Havens Food Cooperative. It is a food waste charity that saves food from being tossed into landfill, and redistributes it to people who need it.

Over 3 tonnes a week!

My family has, in the past, been hard up enough to be referred to a food charity.

It was, thankfully, a temporary measure but one that I was truly grateful to have been able to access at the time.

I was lucky, when my kids were younger, that I had parents who could often help us, but there were times when I was too ashamed to even ask them for help.

The thing I love most about Havens Food Cooperative is that no one goes without if they ask for help. They'll find a way or they'll make a way. Everyone who needs help, gets help.

There is no stigma or shame. 

Of course, food charities like Havens Food Cooperative should absolutely NOT need to exist. But, I'm very glad they do.

They have to exist, because they, and amazing charities like them, are forced to pick up the slack of struggling, underfunded authorities who simply cannot support people who are not able to eat.

So, I'd humbly like to offer them my Mayoral year as their patron.”

We are incredibly honoured to be chosen, and wish Pinky all the best in her Mayoral Year.

The Team at Havens Community Hub receiving their prize, From L-R Dawn Norman, Jacqui Flavell and Dave Fensome.

We are proud to announce that Havens Community Hub are the first East Sussex Community business to achieve the prestigious Wellbeing at Work Small Business Gold Award. The award is only awarded to organisations that are able to demonstrate through evidenced based testing, the highest levels of commitments towards employee wellbeing.

As well as working within our own organisation to achieve the rigorous standards required for this accolade, we have been working with other community groups in order to influence their policies and to encourage a focus on employee wellbeing. We are delighted that our focus on looking after our staff, visitors, volunteers and collaborators has been recognised in this way.

Whilst we are proud that we always put our service users first, the process of qualifying for this award has taught us the benefits of refocusing on looking after our own wellbeing, as that gives us more energy and allows us to help people in a more efficient way. Making small changes such as making time to eat away from our desks and making healthier snacks available in our staff kitchen are small achievable steps that have a big impact on wellbeing.

https://wellbeingatwork.eastsussex.gov.uk/accredited-employers/gold-award/

A huge thank you to Chris Allen and his Team at C R Allen Garage in Peacehaven who ran the gruelling Tough Mudder in aid of Haven’s Community Hub. Running a muddy 5km extreme obstacle course, the guys were zapped with electricity, doused in ice cold water, and made to crawl through mud amongst other unpleasant activities!

Their efforts were not in vain though and have raised some much needed funds to help us in our essential community work.

It’s not too late to donate via https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/costofliving

The latest edition of our quarterly newsletter is out now. Click HERE to learn more about some of our recent activities.

Havens Food Cooperative recently had the honor of participating in an awards ceremony at the Hellingly Community Hub on March 12, 2024, hosted by the High Sheriff of East Sussex, Richard Bickersteth. The project was delighted to receive a commendation from High Sheriff Richard Bickersteth, acknowledging the project's exceptional and invaluable contributions to the community. Our team is ecstatic about being part of such a meaningful event, where our dedication to community service was not only celebrated but also formally recognised. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to High Sheriff Richard Bickersteth for his ongoing support throughout the past year. Special appreciation also goes to our remarkable volunteer team, whose unwavering commitment to supporting the community and fighting against food waste has been instrumental in this project and its activities.

Paula Woolven, 51, has become the second generation of her family to be awarded the British Empire Medal (B.E.M) in the New Year’s Honours List with a special mention of her efforts during the 2019 Covid Pandemic, where she set up the Havens Food Cooperative project in Newhaven, East Sussex, to prevent food waste from supermarkets and feed the community free of charge.

A regular charity supporter from the age of 14, Telscombe Cliffs resident Paula was first inspired by the example set by her mother, Marilyn Nolan, herself a community stalwart and lifelong volunteer for many charities including the RNIB, the Barn Theatre, DaSH JFC and the Meridian Mature Citizens Forum.

“I was always helping mum and dad with things like counting the coins from the Sooty collection boxes, helping at cake sales or performing at events so community support has been a way of life for me,” said Paula, “my own three children were brought up the same way.”

Marilyn, 77, was awarded the B.E.M in the New Year’s Honours List of 2016 and was delighted to discover that her daughter has been recognised with the same honour, seven years later.

The B.E.M. is the second national honour Paula has been awarded, following the presentation of the Royal Humane Society Parchment in 2015 for saving the life of a suicidal person on the Newhaven Swing Bridge who had climbed over the railings and was dangling over the cold, fast-flowing river.

Paula founded the Havens Community Hub in 2018 and pushed the fledgling not-for-profit beyond its limits during C19, taking on the Havens Happy Clubs for older people with complex needs, founding Havens Community Cars CIO – a volunteer driver charity with over 600 members unable to use public transport and creating the multi-award winning environmental and cost of living assisting surplus food pantry – the Havens Food Cooperative, which has just celebrated saving over one million pounds worth of food from landfill and rapidly redistributing it to hundreds of Lewes District families and other charities, including all the local foodbanks.

The Food Cooperative is open 365 days a year in Thompson Road, Newhaven.

“I may be the captain, but this ship couldn’t have set sail without all the wonderful volunteers, supporters and staff on board,” Paula said, “we have nearly 100 people directly involved in the front-line services that the Hub provides through our different projects and legacy charities, including our new community and small business support services based at the Telscombe Cliffs Civic Centre.  I know it’s cliché but I would genuinely like to thank each and every volunteer and dedicate this award to their tireless work to make every day a little better.”

East Sussex Wellbeing at Work is an accreditation programme that provides a free framework for employers to improve wellbeing in the workplace and Havens Community Hub CIC have become the first not-for-profit small organisation to achieve the silver criteria for their commitment to their staff and volunteers.

Hub Founder, Paula Woolven, said "I believe employers, whether commercial or charity, should always invest in the well-being of their staff and volunteers - our greatest assets. When people feel supported and valued, they are more engaged, motivated and productive, improving morale within a positive environment. Having achieved our bronze award earlier in the year, I'm delighted that our ongoing work has resulted in us achieving silver. We aim to become the first not-for-profit to win the gold award in 2024."

The programme, run by East Sussex County Council, takes a holistic approach, including the following topics:

Physical Activity and Active Travel, Healthy Eating, Musculoskeletal Health and Health and Safety, Mental Health, Sickness Absence, Return to Work and Prevention, Alcohol, Substance Misuse, Stop Smoking, Leadership, Management and Workplace Culture.

To find out more or to sign up for free, visit https://wellbeingatwork.eastsussex.gov.uk

Photo: Havens Community Hub representatives accept the award

(L-R) Flavia de Melo Dewey (ESCC), Dani McDonald (Hub), Dawn Norman (Hub).

Telscombe Civic Centre

We are delighted to confirm that Havens Community Hub CIC has been approved by Lewes District Council as one of the UKSPF Stakeholder organisations for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. With this we will be able to develop and deliver a Peacehaven Community Hub, following the success of the Havens Community Hub model based in Denton, and LDC has submitted their investment plan to the government for final approval.

The main goals of the project are:

1. To develop and deliver a central point for facilitating and increasing volunteering opportunities for individuals at local groups, causes and charities.

2. To provide a physical presence for the not-for-profit business support organisations.

3. In conjunction with the volunteering project, to support local charities, not-for-profit organisations and groups with practical hands-on advice, administration and peer-to-peer networking.

4. To improve access to advice and support services which benefit residents' health, finances and well-being.

Founded, Paula Woolven, says: "I'm delighted that Lewes District Council have recognised the ongoing impact of our project development work over the difficult pandemic period and trusted Havens Community Hub's reputation for 'finding a way or making a way' to invest in this exciting opportunity for Peacehaven's residents, charities and businesses."

During the last three years, Havens Community Hub CIC has developed three main projects to meet unmet community need - Havens Community Cars - a charity supporting over 500 residents with 25 volunteer drivers, Havens Food Cooperative - a food waste prevention project saving and redistributing over 1 ton of food from supermarkets per week and the Havens Happy Clubs - providing dementia-friendly stimulating activities for older people.

From April 2023, you will continue to find Havens Community Cars + Havens Food Cooperative at Havens Community Hub, 2a Thompson Road, Denton, BN9 0RS. You will find Havens Community Hub and it's new projects at Telscombe Civic Centre, Central Avenue, Telscombe Cliffs, BN10 7ES.

Havens Community Hub achieved the Wellbeing at Work Small Business Bronze award in January 2023!

One of the best initiatives that the organisation undertook as part of their award was running a staff health and wellbeing survey, as it is not something they had done before. The survey has provided excellent insight into which areas of health and wellbeing that staff would like support with. Dani McDonald, award lead and Project Support Administrator, said ‘’We have always been focussed on the needs of staff and volunteers as Havens Community Hub with wellbeing at the forefront of everything that we do. However taking part in the Wellbeing at Work programme, and running a staff survey in particular, has helped us to prioritise providing the support and information that would be most helpful to our staff. We are excited to continue with the Small Business Silver award’’.

At the end of 2022, Havens Food Cooperative held a celebration event, inviting the Mayor of

Newhaven, the Chair of Lewes District Council and Store Representatives to attend. A

presentation to thank the 19 stores Havens Food Cooperative partners with, for their

continuing support and donations of surplus food was given, at the Havens Community Hub.

Havens Food Cooperative were able to share details on how the donated surplus food is

used to support over 350 families weekly, and 20+ groups and organisations.

The Havens Food Cooperative Food Waste Prevention and Priority Redistribution Scheme

would not be such a success without the amazing collaboration from all the local stores-

Sainsburys, Tesco, Coop, Lidl, Morrisons, Waitrose and ASDA. With dedication from the 19

stores partnered with we are ensuring that food waste is not an issue in the Havens area-

over 1 ton of food is being redistributed and prevented from reaching landfill every week.

To date over £570,000 of food has been redistributed and the surplus food donations from

stores are helping Havens Food Cooperative to tackle food waste and food insecurity locally.

Thank you again to all the stores hard work in ensuring that surplus food donations reach

us.