"Trust In Community" - The TIC Group ✅
"Fueling Better Futures Through Food"
In Partnership With Feeding Britain & Blackpool Food Bank: To Provide Affordable Nutrient Dense Food To Those In Need.
The Story of TiC
Embracing Hope: A Story of Community and Compassion
Hello!
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and I am a former chef, general manager, and face of many community businesses! I have 20 years’ experience in hospitality, food and senior management. This all changed for me when I started suffering from chronic pain and mobility issues. When I received my diagnoses of ME/CFS and fibromyalgia, I fell into a deep depression. I had troubles doing even the most basic of tasks in my everyday life. But, thanks to the compassion and love shown to me by our community, I was lifted out of that dark place, and I remembered why I had dedicated my life to the service of others.
My name is Scott
Through my harrowing experience, I learned that though I was blessed to have the support of my community, many others do not have support in their times of need. Because of this, I decided to set up "Trust in Community" (TiC) to help support those in my community who aren't having their needs met. I want to support my community with what I know best:
service, people, community, and good and healthy food!
I want to use my story, the experience gained from my hardships, and the connections I've made with many others throughout my journey to make an impact by combating food insecurity, malnutrition, and addressing our community's mental health.
To go deeper into my story, during these last 4 years, I’ve battled physically and mentally, fighting, at the time, an unknown condition. After many doctor's appointments and tests, I finally got my diagnosis of ME and Fibromyalgia. A bit later, I also found out I have osteoarthritis as well.
Living daily in chronic pain, my life became very difficult. Things got so hard that I almost succumbed to the pain. It was putting so much stress and strain on my body, and with the loss of my career and financial stability, on my mental health as well. If it weren't for the community around me and my boys, I don't know that I would’ve made it through.
My story and future shifted drastically, when at my lowest and desperate for somewhere to turn, I reached out for advice and support. Our country's healthcare service was in no position to help me at the time due to long waits and did not know how to support a person with fibromyalgia long term. All they could do was give me pain medication. I didn't want to stay on the pain medications long term and there was very little advice on how to deal with the pain without them. There was no advice on nutrition or exercise.
But the link between good, healthy food and mental and physical wellbeing is well documented!
When I started to pay more attention to my nutritional health and when I reached out to others in the community, things started to click again in my life. The love, compassion, and support of my community, a community of friends and connections from many counties made due to my work in hospitality, inspired me, motivated me and made me realise what I was missing: My love for service and helping others, my love for impacting people’s lives.
This rediscovery of my love for service has led me to set up my own CIC (Community Interest Company) called Trust in Community (TiC.) And I’m so eager to build a food support service and program that is educational and provides development opportunities and, most importantly, affordable, nutrient rich food, meal kits, and prepared meals.
I feel so grateful to those around me who helped me and supported me through my time of need. But not everyone is so privileged and lucky to have a community around them like I did. I now know of so many individuals fighting daily battles with pain, debt, and mental health who don't have a safety net there for them.
Our community is one of much deprivation here in the Blackpool area and it’s one of leading concern in the UK. Our local area is number 8 out of the top 10 wards for deprivation in the country. We're seeing an ever-increasing crisis of poverty, malnutrition, stunted child growth and development, younger and younger mental health concerns, and a lack of educational and developmental opportunities. And I want to change that through the foundation of life, FOOD!
Food is key to growth, development, recovery, and each individual's wellbeing. Developing a better sustainable food system particularly in our deprived urban area.
I've recently watched many people close to me go through similar journeys to myself. I've lost many loved ones to incurable diseases. My grandma's fight recently has been a huge inspiration to me in starting TiC.
It's these uncurable diseases that opened my eyes further to the impact of poor nutritional health and the impact particularly on vulnerable and deprived communities and the long-term impact it can have on futures.
I want to make an impact on the lives of people in my community through food, by offering a community cafe, grocery store, advice, and an educational hub. We as an organisation want to tackle issues around food insecurity, malnutrition, and giving people the skills, understanding, and confidence to improve their lives through food and nutritional education, and in turn improving overall health and wellbeing.
We aim to use our partners, supporters, and collaborators to come together to develop an improved sustainable food model that can support our community and its people for long term growth, health, and development opportunities.
We just recently partnered with Feeding Britain but is still in its infancy, we currently provide food packages, but we hope to raise funds to invest in a community food led project, focused on affordability, utilising surplus, and waste foods for both social and environmental good, while providing education, development opportunities, and jobs.
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