Manchester Veg People are jubilant as their Crowdfunding campaign to 'Get the Manchester Food Revolution moving’ exceeds it £16,000 target! This very modern form of fund-raising utilised a huge twitter campaign; mobilised weblogger and celebrity chefs to help spread the word over six weeks. The result: over 300 people from across the UK made pledges from £5 up to a thousand pounds.
This will allow the cooperative to buy much needed equipment, helping them to grow the capacity of the co-op and realise their dream to bring affordable, healthy and sustainable food to everyone – whilst also paying local growers fair price for their produce.
Talking about the campaign Veg People co-ordinator Katie Brandon said ‘We’re ecstatic that the campaign has hit the target. It’s been a nail biting 6 weeks but the support and messages we’ve received have been amazing. This funding will make such a huge difference to us – more storage space and our own van means we'll be able to supply loads more pubs, restaurants, canteens and schools across Greater Manchester and in turn grow more local farmers by paying them a living wage'.
This will allow the cooperative to buy much needed equipment, helping us to grow the capacity of the co-op and realise our dream of bringing affordable, healthy and sustainable food to everyone – whilst also paying local growers fair price for their produce. Hitting the target also means we can collect 40% match-funding from Defra through the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), bringing the total raised to £22,000.
During the course of the campaign a Gtr Manchester local authority have agreed to a pilot supplying Manchester Veg People produce in a local primary school. Meaning MVP will be supplying local organic veg direct from local farmers to our children and young people. Initiatives such as these are at the heart of what MVP and partner organisation The Kindling Trust are trying to achieve; ensuring a better fairer food system for Greater Manchester.
The overwhelming support and enthusiasm for the campaign has shown what an appetite there is for a fairer food system to thrive in Manchester. We’d like to send out a huge thank you to everyone who has supported the campaign in a variety of different ways, we really couldn't have done it without any of you!