Marks Gate Relief Project
MGRP is an award winning not-for-profit Community Interest Company that engages innovative voluntary services to boost community engagement within Marks Gate and surrounding areas.
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MGRP strives to boost, amongst other things, Socio-economic welfare; Cultural and linguistic diversity; Physical, mental and spiritual well-being; Equitable opportunities for education and attainment; and Inter-Faith harmony, in our communities.
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MGRP is run and managed by a core team of dedicated women volunteers who are also passionate about empowering and engaging women whilst giving them a platform to boost entrepreneurship and leadership skills. MGRP has brought the community together through its myriad of social-welfare activities and community engagement projects which have successfully fostered positive working relationships within the community based on empathy, compassion, engagement, social enterprise and equality.
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Main activities include: (1) Interfaith harmony workshops, (2) interfaith walks, (3) Seasonal growing & gardening projects to tackle social isolation, (4) Tile and Pottery workshops to provide inclusive empowerment to the visually impaired, (5) Community Eid and Iftar events that celebrate Asian Heritage, (6) Regular weekly soup kitchen which includes eat in, takeaway or delivery to care homes, residential homes, churches and youth clubs across Barking and Dagenham, (7) regular weekly community catchup over a hot meal, (8) Support Hubs for Women who are victims of Domestic Violence, FGM, gender based violence and sexual exploitation, (9) Regular cooking workshops to encourage budget-friendly and healthy meal-sharing, (10) Weekly Food Club, Food Drives, Clothing Bank, Food Bank, Toy Bank, Winter Blanket Appeal and Wheelchair Appeal, (11) Cricket as a sport and support network to women from BAME communities, (12) International Projects include- (a) Bridal Project to Pakistan, (b) Container to Afghanistsan, (c) Turkey/Syria Earthquake Appeal.
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With the rising cost of living, MGRP has taken the initiative to run a Community Supermarket with a free hot meal service. The Community Supermarket aims to provide good quality basic groceries at a heavily subsidised price so that residents can afford to buy what they would otherwise rely on food banks to provide. This not only preserves the dignity of residents in need; but also gives them more purchasing power- which otherwise becomes compromised- when relying heavily on handouts received from food banks or community food clubs.
MGRP has been a huge positive influence to the migrant community, those seeking asylum in the UK, and to women from BAME communities by inspiring them to reach out, engage, learn and share skills, and harness their potentials. By creating a safe space that gives inclusive empowerment to these members of the community, MGRP has empowered them to break their barriers of language and silence, over come and heal out of their trauma to relive their lives with confidence, trust and engagement.