The owners behind a community venture selling coffee and cakes to park goers via a bright yellow trike have unveiled plans to turn a 40-foot shipping container into a park café.
Grounded MCR was set up in 2021 by Levenshulme couple Kerry and Nat to help people with anxiety return to work and build up career skills in young and vulnerable people. The yellow trike will often be seen at green spaces like Cringle Park and Platt Fields each week.
Kerry and Nat have now launched a fundraiser to help them transform an abandoned storage container they found on Facebook into a café and events space in Levenshulme’s Cringle Park that will have the community at its heart.
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“I was looking on Facebook Marketplace for random things to buy, as you do, and I just came across this random shipping container for sale,” Nat tells the M.E.N. “It had already been used as a café and I just felt like it was a sign.”
The couple had previously planned to take over a decommissioned school bus and turn it into a community hub, but it was never logistically possible for them to make it happen. They felt the shipping container could be something even better than what they had initially envisioned.
“It was already designed into a half kitchen and half seated area,” Nat explains. "It is dark green and I just felt like it would be perfect for a park space. I got in touch with the council and immediately began to think about how we could do it up, like by putting grass walls around it with bug and bee hotels."
Alongside more space for people to socialise and hang out, the café will also include a mini allotment on the roof that will grow vegetables and fruit. The café will sell dishes created from rescued food destined for landfill and will also include a zero waste shop and areas for local makers to sell products.
One of the key features of the café will be a barista training area for vulnerable adults and students to gain the skills to work in the hospitality industry.
“The plan is to have a proper training scheme in partnership with one of the local colleges,” Nat explains. “We want to be able to employ as many 18-24-year-old’s as we can, especially those with learning difficulties or those who find themselves without the right levels of support.
“It takes all sorts to make a world and all sorts to make an interesting workforce. We’ve had people who weren’t able to look others in the eyes, and we’ve been able to see them change right in front of us.
“I’ve got one girl who was terrified to leave her own house and spent the last four years in her bedroom and now she will happily work at a festival in front of 20,000 people.
“I feel like there’s so much that can be done with the right support and the people we’ve trained and employed are proof of that.”
Since launching the fundraiser earlier this month, the pair have raised more than £10,000 towards the project and are aiming for £20,000 to give it the full attention it needs.
“I’m honestly blown away by the amount of support we’ve received,” Nat says. “I’m very humbled that so many people have donated whilst in the middle of a cost of living crisis. It’s quite special.
“It’s quite a big deal. We’ve had a really, really tough winter and without this doing well, we were looking at whether we could still continue to do what we do.
“I’ve been speechless for most of the week because it’s just been so overwhelming to see how much support we’ve received.”
You can donate to the fundraiser here.
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