Update 03/06/2020 Dear community, thankyou so much for your donations, we are closing this page as we settle in to a more routine system at Baraka. We plan to make the boxes for as long as possible, so your money will be used well. Thankyou so much! It has made so many people have such full bellies and wide smiles. See you someday, Esther @ Baraka.

Also....We have a baby in our community! :)

Update 14/05/2020 Hello! We now have 50+ families who we support on a weekly basis. We have made connections with many local businesses and will be able to build on these to create more partnerships in the future. We are thinking of ways in which to involve people from their homes...Watch our facebook for more news! Our TAKEAWAYS also support keeping the cafe open so that we can give away these boxes, so please encourage your fellow BS5 friends to order one from us! (on facebook!)

Below are some recent pics from Baraka. X

Update 20/04/20 Hi there, this week we are making about 40 boxes for families that we are supporting in Easton. We have had a huge donation of oat milk from Oatly, which will be substituting dairy milk in our boxes, and a large delivery of vegan halloumi-style cheese from our friends at BASE (Cheers Joe!). We are buying chicken from the butchers for our boxes and there is plenty of yoghurt and cheese going into them this week also. They are looking good, however if you know of anyone who works in a food business in Bristol where they may have excess food at the moment, or items that will go out of date...Please get in touch with us! This is going to be a long mission and Baraka will need help from a lot of places in order to continue doing what we are doing. :)

Update 15/04/20 Hello from Baraka! We now have over 30 families who we are providing for on a weekly basis...We are working with Easton Academy, Bristol Hospitality Network, Ashley Community Housing and Bridges for Communities who are referring families who are in need to us. Pak Butchers and Star Cash and Carry are our suppliers for the produce, they are helping us get supplies at the best price possible (Thanks Sharif & Farooq!). We realise that Covid 19 and the effects of the pandemic are going to be present within our community for the foreseeable future, so are working on applying for grants that will allow us to continue this in the long term. For now...Only 1.3k more to raise! Thankyou so much for all of your support! Baraka x

Original message below...

Dear Baraka Community, you are in our thoughts as we rapidly enter this new world of daily uncertainty, self-isolation, and economic upheaval. We particularly feel for the vulnerable that may be impacted in much more significant ways and for those that must self-isolate and in many cases remain separated from family and friends during difficult moments. We feel for those who are near end of life and may not be close to their loved ones, for those loved ones who feel helpless, and for all of us who are now struggling with daily decision making, anxiety and fear.

We opened Baraka Community Café in February to provide a welcome and safe space for all. We aim to continue to provide for our Community in our tiny little pocket of the world. We hope to be able to do so through meal delivery to those in self-isolation, to those who are finding their grocery aisles empty or chaotic, to those who just want a warm meal to feed themselves or their family. We would like to deliver as many boxes of provisions for families as we can. We are a small cafe with limited capacity, so are starting small and slowly will build up- learning to walk before we can run!

Therefore, for those who can, we have opened a virtual pay it forward here. All proceeds will be used to provide either meals or provisions boxes to people in need in our community of BS5.

❤️ Be kind, be love and know that all are always Welcome at Baraka Community Café. (Although at the moment virtually welcome as the cafe is closed to the public during Covid19)

Generosity, kindness and love are all part of our true nature and this shines through in times of crisis. Stay safe, Love, Baraka.

Rosalind with ingredients going into one of our special chicken boxes for families who need a Friday night chicken fix with love from Baraka

Finally, Chris from Fare Share..We wouldn't be able to do this without them! Thankyou Fare Share!

#barakacommunitycafe #payitforward #bekind #love #easton #bristol