Rural Coffee Caravan
This charity aims to relieve rural isolation and promote community spirit and is focussed mainly on older people. It provides a free information service that visits rural villages in Suffolk to provide social contact, information and guidance to communities that have difficulties in accessing such assistance due to their geographic location. This includes a mobile community café caravan, that enables people to come for a hot drink and cakes whilst accessing relevant information, advice or support. Over 6,000 people benefit per annum, through around 300 village visits across the county.
At the February 2021 meeting, the Allen Lane Foundation agreed a grant to Rural Coffee Caravan that will help to fund ten village visits per annum. The grant was for £9,000, split over a three-year period. Outcomes of the work involved include: older people living in the villages that are visited will reconnect and socialise with others in the community and will have reduced isolation; and that they will be able to access relevant information in order to promote their mental and physical wellbeing.
