Tag Archive for: Accumul8

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YMCA resident finds success

Accumul8_036-1-471x705-200x300Sam Adesanya, one of the homeless young people at the North London YMCA, has found success – and he is now getting ready for a photography exhibition set to open later this week, which includes several pieces of his work. Sam Adesanya will be showing some of his photographs at the Accumul8 photography exhibition, which opens at The Guardian offices in Kings Cross, starting July 14th. You can read about Sam’s success in this article in the Ham & High newspaper.

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Accumul8 at Utopia Fair at Somerset House

Accumul8’s director Marice Cumber spent last weekend at the wonderful Utopia Fair at Somerset House. The Utopia Fair was all about showcasing community projects and initiatives that work towards ideal principles and creating a better world. These projects were based around energy, surplus food, well-being, recycling, climate change, society and engaging the disenfranchised. All showed how people can really make a difference with small actions, passion and persistence to change the negative, and enable community action towards a positive outcome.

It was really rewarding and refreshing to be around so much positive energy and in such an uplifting environment – especially at the beautiful Somerset House! Accumul8 were there with our delicious Preserves with a Purpose – using surplus fruit to make jams and chutneys that we sell to raise funds for creative activities for young people living in hostels. We had a great time and it was so rewarding being able to meet and talk to so many people about the work we do. Here is Accumul8’s director, Marice Cumber, at the Utopia Fair – just look at that range of Accumul8 preserves!

Marice selling Accumul8 Preserves with a Purpose at the Utopia Fair

Marice selling Accumul8 Preserves with a Purpose at the Utopia Fair

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Accumul8 at Somerset House

This coming weekend, 24 – 26 June, we will be at The Utopia Fair at Somerset House, Charing Cross, London. The Utopia Fair is a celebration of 25 different projects that have been selected to showcase their work in creating their own Utopia and ideal world, whether through food, fashion, recycling or arts and crafts.

So as Accumul8’s Preserves with a Purpose are made from surplus fruit and are sold to raise money for creative activities for young people living in hostels, we tick quite a few of the Utopia boxes, well, we try our best too!

At the Utopia Fair, we will be selling good old favourites such as Apple Pie Jam, Pear and Vanilla Jam and Nectarine and Amaretto Jam plus lots of new flavours including Green Coriander Chutney, Aubergine Pickle, Peach, Lemon and Almond Jam and Plum and Brandy Jam. Yum, yum, yum.

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2016 and we’re ready to go!

We’ve achieved so much in 2015- and there’s lots to look forward to in 2016.

We held a photography exhibition at Hornsey Town Hall, which surpassed all expectations:A Private View which was buzzing with appreciative public, press and our photographers, who got lots of networking done, and were delighted with the response to their work.

We were featured in The Guardian and on London Tonight, won an award from the Prime Minister.  We even found time to produce a calendar for 2016 for Alexandra Palace.

We still produced (and sold out of) lots of preserves, which means we now have funds for Accumul8 2016. And we managed to enjoy it all!

What’s even better is that all the participants in Accumul8 2015 have moved on to a more positive journey in their lives, including coming off of benefits, finding employment, getting back in touch with family, starting a training course and moving out of the hostel. And this is what Accumul8 is truly about – using creativity to build the confidence and sense of well-being to allow people to move forward, develop skills and feel better about themselves and their lives.

We are now just about to start the Accumul8 2016 Photography Workshops. This year, we will be working with three hostels for homeless people, in North, East and South London. So Accumul8 is now Pan London! 10 students have been recruited from Ravensbourne to help deliver the photography workshops and facilitate photography tutor supremo Othello De’Souza Hartley, and we have some AMAAAAAAZING partners on board including (SUPER DRUM  ROLL!!!) The Photographers’ Gallery, The Roundhouse, The Barbican, Birdsong London and of course, the wonderful Ravensbourne. Thank you to all of them for helping make Accumul8 happen!

 

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Helping others to help themselves.

Summer has been and gone, and we are now leading up to the end of the year and all the frenzy that goes with it. For Accumul8 that means one major creative activity – the making and selling of the Accumul8 Preserves with a Purpose, which we make from surplus fruit donated by the community and then sell to raise money for Accumul8 to continue to do the good work that it does.

There is one chief preserve maker at the hostel, Levi, who helps every week to make the Accumul8 jams and chutneys. I am proud to say that Levi is paid by Accumul8, but even more proud that Levi now feels valued and is incentivised by the project and wants to build a future for himself.

He’s pictured helping to label the Accumul8 jams and chutneys, the “Preserves with a Purpose.”

Recently, Accumul8 were very kindly given space at Spitalfields Art Market to sell photographs taken by our group of photographers (who have been affected by homelessness) and who participated in this year’s workshops. It is always good to connect with the public and talk about our work and what we set out to achieve. It’s even better when the participants do this, it’s amazing for them to see their work on display, but even more so when they do the talking and selling as the reward goes far beyond the sale.

Sam talks to the public about his photographs, Spitalfields Art Market: October 2015

Sam talks to the public about his photographs, Spitalfields Art Market: October 2015

Sometimes, there are community heroes that want to help Accumul8. Sometimes it’s people that have some time or skills to share, or people living locally that have surplus fruit that they want to donate for the jams and chutneys, they are all very lovely and very appreciated (it would be impossible to run Accumul8 without this type of help) and my thanks to them is extensive. But today, my special thanks goes to a new business In Crouch End, Burgers@N8, a business that has decided to support Accumul8 and show that you can run a business, do good in the community and succeed! They are truly very lovely indeed and deserve every success. Thank you Burgers@N8 – we love you!x

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This burger supports Accumul8!

The Accumul8 Exhibition

Today, 14th June, is the last day of the Accumul8 exhibition at Hornsey Town Hall. It has been an incredible journey, from being filmed for London Tonight, selling Accumul8 photographs, jam and greeting cards and having so much positive interest, enthusiasm and encouragement from the visitors to the show.

Estimates are that over 1,400 people have visited the exhibition over the four days that we have been open. Most importantly is the rewarding experience and personal achievement it has been for the Accumul8 participants: young people who are homeless and living in the YMCA hostel in Crouch End. To have people admire their work, purchase it for their homes and want to talk to them about their photographs is something that was not in their mindset when we started the Accumul8 photography project in February this year and which has shown the Accumul8 group that they are valued and have value to themselves and other people. The goal of Accumul8 is to use creativity to give confidence and help people move to a better place in their lives. I hope we have shown that this is achievable.

Here are some photographs that Steve Franck took at the private view of the Accumul8 exhibition.

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We have lift off!

This weekend was the culmination of alot of hard work, preparation and organisation – it was the first selling of Accumul8 chutneys and jams. So, off to market we went (well, a church hall actually). With the car all packed up with the fruits of our labours we were ready to face the world of commerce, start telling people about Accumul8, get them to taste our work and actually begin to sell our chutneys and jams.

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– You can fit alot into an electric car!

And here is the Accumul8 stand at the point when it is about to stop being a plan and start being a commercial product that is on sale to the public.

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Residents from the NLYMCA came to help and there was a real sense of pride in seeing their hard work turned into a desirable product that people wanted to buy.

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It was really a very rewarding experience for everyone- the NLYMCA residents, the customers and myself! The local Lib Dem MP, Lynne Featherstone, came to visit and make a purchase (she was very taken with Shawn’s selling and promotion of Accumul8!),

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and, to balance this, Catherine West, the Labour candidate for the area, also came along to support us. And lots of members of the public, apple givers, jam jar givers and lovers of chutney came to visit and purchase, united in helping Accumul8 to prosper and grow!

Thankyou to everyone who showed their enthusiasm, wanted to know more about Accumul8 and made a purchase. Every single penny goes to help the Accumul8 attendees fund the materials and equipment for an exhibition of their creative work at The Crouch End Festival in June 2014.

And, so, even though, it has been a tiring weekend, it has been a brilliant one for everyone involved with Accumul8. From little acorns…..