The Vegetarian Society - Support

THANK YOU! WE WON! Thank you so much for all your help in securing funding from the Department of Health for our new project to run a course on vegetarian food for hospital caterers. I am happy to report that our idea came top of the list of all the ideas submitted, and the messages people put up of their own unsatisfying experiences of veggie food in hospitals were incredibly supportive. Thanks to your help, we’ve secured the funding to get this idea off the ground, and according to the many comments submitted it is sorely needed. To see all the winners, and to review our Food for All – The Vegetarian Society’s Hospital Caterer’s training course, simply visit http://big.dh.gov.uk/ URGENT Please help us to get funding for our new project! But you’ve got to be quick, the deadline is midday on Thursday, 18 March 2010. Simply visit http://www.big.dh.gov.uk/node/243 to vote for our bright idea.


WHAT IS IT?
The Department of Health as part of the Dignity in Care Campaign is offering £50K to help get some ideas off the ground, in their Bright Ideas Grant, and we need your help to get a slice of this pie. This isn’t the usual sort of grant, where we submit an application and then cross our fingers as we wait for the decision of the panel, but rather it relies on the public to vote for the ideas they think are the best. The top rated ideas will receive a share of the £50,000.
THE BRIGHT IDEA
Our idea is called ‘Food for All – The Vegetarian Society’s Hospital Caterers training course’. Many vegetarians and vegans will relate to stories of being given food while in hospital that is not suitable and definitely not satisfactory, maybe you’ve experienced this yourself. We want to address this by going straight to the people who make and serve you your food, the hospital caterers themselves. Ultimately we hope to train all member of the Hospital Caterers Association, but we need to test out our idea by first running a special course for hospital caterers in the northwest. If our idea is among the highest rated then we’ll get the funding we need to start this project off. This project aims to enhance understanding of the impact of food on wider patient well-being, by developing the understanding of and respect for people’s food choices. Click here for more information.
GET CLICKING!
We really need your help! All you have to do is click a couple of buttons, so it’s really easy but could make a big difference in improving provision for vegetarians from all walks of life. Please visit http://www.big.dh.gov.uk/node/243 to read more about our bright idea and rate it by clicking on the stars at the end of the idea. The higher the star rating you give it, the higher it will move up the list so we have a better chance of getting the money. So please rate it highly, and give it 5 stars! You can also view other ideas and rate them. You do not need to set up a username and password in order to vote, you can do it anonymously, but you won’t be able to leave any comments or change your rating later. Please note that the system is clever and will only allow one vote per idea from one internet connection, regardless of the number of computers using that connection. Please pass the word on, and help us get funding for this important work. And don’t forget the deadline for voting is midday on Thursday, 18 March. Vote now!