Gwyneth Compston with children, Emily and Ethan.

 East Belfast mum of two Gwyneth Compston, also Energy Services Manager for Power NI, put forward L’Arche and Root Soup as a worthy recipient of cash support as part of Power NI’s Community Response Fund.

Root Soup, a catering initiative run by charity, L’Arche Belfast, is one of 43 community groups and charities that have been supported by Power NI’s Community Response Fund set up in the wake of Covid-19.

Gwyneth’s church, Newtownbreda Presbyterian, helps L’Arche by giving over their kitchen and each Thursday, alongside volunteers from the church and the local community, Root Soup chefs prepare and deliver 240 home-cooked meals to older higher-risk people in South-East Belfast area each week.

Root Soup’s Power NI grant is helping to purchase ingredients to create a range of ready-made and nutritional meals and small food packs. 

Twenty-nine of the groups supported by Power NI, including Root Soup, were proposed by Power NI staff located at company sites in Omagh, Belfast and Antrim. Gwyneth Compston alongside colleagues Steffi Lewis and Gemma-Louise Bond have been co-ordinating and implementing the company’s new Community Response Fund.

Gwyneth explains, ‘Staff have always been an integral part of our community support programmes and through our employee initiative, Helping Hands, team members have nominated many different groups for Power NI grants. With the impact of Covid-19 we invited staff to suggest projects in their local areas that they either volunteered with or knew about and felt deserved additional support in these current unusual and challenging times.

‘I put forward L’Arche as it’s a fantastic organisation which brings together people with learning disabilities and those without, whilst recognising and celebrating everyone’s talents and achievements. The Root Soup kitchen project is culinary training for adults but since lockdown has totally diversified creating food parcels for local people in need.’

The fund has enabled all 43 groups to provide a total of 2250 PPE visors, masks and scrub bags, 50 litres of hand sanitiser and 2550 meals, food parcels and grocery vouchers. Over 100 people have been supported by check and chat volunteers as well as 250 family and older people packs, laptops and tablets and high vis vests.