Award: Fsa Announces Winners

The award, which was established by the FSA in 2004, aims at commemorating the contribution Dame Sheila McKechnie made in helping to set up the agency back in 2000. She had previously been director of Shelter and, later, of the Consumer’s Association (now known as Which?). FSA chair, Deirdre Hutton, explains Dame Sheila McKechnie would have been proud to have her name associated with the two winners.

She adds, “Healthy Eating For Life – A Young Mum’s Project was selected as a winner for the vital contribution it makes to the lives of those young women in the Isle Of Wight, who have limited resources, means and knowledge to ensure that healthy eating and learning important food skills is a priority for them and their children.

“The Flava Café was selected as a winner due to the valuable contribution it makes to the community and the fantastic job it does in educating and empowering people from vulnerable backgrounds. By giving people access to facilities, resources, support, information and education, the café is a crucial function of the community and helps many people learn a range of important cookery skills from food preparation, to menu planning and budgeting.”

The winners will receive £15,000 each over a three year period to help develop their services. They were chosen from more than 50 applications from across the UK by a panel of judges that included Ms Hutton, Channel 4 news broadcaster, Jon Snow, and Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University.

“We are really delighted to have won this award. The grant will be a huge help to the Flava Café and will allow us to develop our ideas and expand further. The café has become a real focal point of our area and all the people that are involved with this project,” comments Steve Baylis, from the Flava Café.

Similarly, Karen Payne, from the Healthy Eating For Life project, says, “We are thrilled to have won this award, which will really make a huge difference to the daily lives of many young women in our local area who often come from backgrounds where they don’t have the means, or access to the type of resources and education that we offer.”

Judge and news presenter, Jon Snow, comments, “It’s fantastic that the Sheila McKechnie Award has found outstanding winners.” Additionally, Café 98, in Stockton, home to the Corner House Youth Project, and Food Skills For Life, in Bournemouth, were Highly Commended by the panel of judges.