Success in the Dragon's Den!

A great big thank you goes to Credit Suisse for a donation of £10,000 to the new services that The Food Chain is piloting. But the real credit goes to David Scott, a Credit Suisse employee and Globe supervisor, who alerted The Food Chain to the Dragons’ Den competition that Credit Suisse ran to decide which charities to support. In March, David nominated The Food Chain and its new services for the competition, which sought to distribute £100,000 in total to five charities that Credit Suisse employees support.

The Food Chain was one of 35 charities nominated, and thanks to David’s persuasive written argument, we were chosen as one of the five finalist charities. In a novel twist, Credit Suisse decided to ask a panel of its senior managers to act as ‘Dragons’, just like the popular TV programme, and assess the plans of the five finalist charities. David was required to give a five-minute presentation to the Dragons and then submit to five minutes of questioning. He rose to the occasion spectacularly and his passion for the work of The Food Chain was compelling.

This donation will help The Food Chain rollout its Developing Independence services – Supported Shopping (one-to-one support for those who have become well enough to shop and cook for themselves) and Positive Eating (communal cookery classes tailored to the needs of those living with HIV).

Many many thanks to David Scott for braving the Dragons’ Den and emerging unscathed, and indeed successful! And many thanks to Credit Suisse for giving its employees an opportunity to showcase their magnificent efforts in supporting charitable work – and for great creativity in coming up with a competition that allowed us and the other nominated charities to put our case to the Dragons.

New funding received recently:

Milton Damerel Trust £20,000
The Barbara Ward Children’s Foundation £ 5,537
Peter Roscrow £10,000
Credit Suisse Dragons’ Den £10,000