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8 easy ways to buy social this Saturday
8 easy ways to buy social this Saturday
Written by
UnLtd employee
UnLtd position
8 easy ways to buy social this Saturday
Written by
UnLtd employee
UnLtd position
It's Social Saturday! Social Saturday is an initiative from SEUK (LINK) to encourage people to buy social. Whether you're looking to plan activities for your next holiday, buy a fresh loaf of bread, or are looking for a new app to keep your kids entertained, there’s a way to do it while making a social impact. It’s a great reason to shop while making a difference. Here are five ways you can get involved, with the help of UnLtd Award Winners.
Cornish social venture Family Foraging Kitchen provides wild food education, including foraging walks, cookery classes and other courses in traditional craft. They use the profits from this to offer similar services to members of the local community suffering from food poverty. Book a walk, course, or other activity this Social Saturday to learn skills from beekeeping to butchery. They offer walks for couples too, in case you're looking for an idea for a romantic date.
Edinburgh is a fantastic place to visit - dotted with fantastic bars, venues and places full of history. If you’re thinking of visiting anytime soon, and want to get the lowdown on the city, you should book a walking tour with Award Winners, Invisible Edinburgh. All of their tour guides have had experience of homelessness or disadvantage. Invisible Edinburgh gives them the training and support they need to showcase their talents and guide people through the city. Planning on visiting London? Unseen London's knowledgeable tour guides will help you familiarise yourself with the capital. Like Invisible Edinburgh, go on one of their walking tours and you'll be supporting homeless people get their lives on track.
“People don’t give me money because they just think I'll spend it on crack and cider.†If you're looking for another way to help homeless people in London, take a look at Crack + Cider. You can't buy something for yourself through this venture, but if you've got some spare cash kicking around you can buy something for a rough sleeper. It might be a full kit to help keep them dry, a new coat or a canine care pack.
Mobile phones can be really powerful tools for making our society more inclusive. Sometimes though, they need something extra to make them work for everyone. Giraffe Reader helps people with sight problems scan documents so they can be read on their phone. It’s a stand that people can use to get consistently good scans of the documents they want to read or convert to audio. What's more, it’s designed to be constructed, eyes-free, straight out of the box.
“Award-winning flavours and positive social changeâ€. This terrific chocolatier was formed in 2012 to tackle issues of employability facing young people with autism. Aside from creating mouth-watering chocolate, Harry Spectres provides job opportunities and work placements to young people with autism. 60p out of every £1 of profit made is set aside to further the social aims of the venture. To date Harry Spectres has supported over 160 young people with work-placements, paid employment and one-time project work. Treat a loved one - who are we kidding, yourself - to a box of delicious chocolates.
Miss Macaroon is about offering life-changing employment opportunities by selling premium quality macaroons to individuals, corporations or for events. Miss Macaroon provides young offenders and at risk young people the opportunity and training to have a career in the catering industry. Get creative this Social Saturday with a personalised macaroon.
Some businesses are about more than making dough. These bakeries are creating amazing social impact with every slice. London-based The Dusty Knuckle is an award-winning social venture working with youth offenders and early-school leavers to provide bakery training and employment. Based in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, LoveBread CIC is a community-supported bakery. They provide training opportunities and aim to invigorate the local community. Torth Y Tir, a community-supported peasant bakery in Pembrokeshire, aims to make bread healthier through education and support to the local community. Their bread is entirely hand-made; from growing the wheat, to stoking the wood-fired ovens. As well as selling their produce - including pizzas! - they also offer training courses to those interested in learning about hand crafted loafs.
“What if your morning coffee could change lives?†Want something to drink alongside your social venture chocolate, macaroon or slice of toast? This social venture uses coffee to help solve homelessness. Change Please empowers homeless people with the skills and equipment necessary to become expert baristas. With moveable coffee vans across London, and an online store if you’re in need of a caffeine hit, look no further.
hiSbe stands for ‘how it should be’. Set up by two sisters, Ruth and Amy, this social supermarket has big ambitions. For now you can support them by buying amazing, locally sourced produce from their store in Brighton. If you live nearby make sure to give them a try for your next weekly shop.
Looking for a new game to play on your tablet or phone? Game Dr. are making fun and free games for Apple and Android devices. Next time you’re looking for a new game for your commute, check them out - you might also learn something too, they’re educational.
The Exchange are broadening arts engagement in Morecambe. They’re getting local people involved in arts and crafts, showing everyone that arts are for them. They have a lovely shop in the town’s West End that sells a range of locally made art that make perfect gifts. Don’t live locally? You can shop online too.
Looking for more ideas? Worried that your work’s Christmas Santa is coming up soon and you need to find a small (and social) something to buy? This Because are an online shop selling social gifts and products. We spoke to Zoë Quirk last year about why she set it up.