Penicuik Community Alliance
Background
Penicuik Community Alliance trades as Penicuik Storehouse and is a wholly community owned and operated cooperative community benefit society registered with the Financial Conduct Authority.
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We were created in 2015 by selling shares at £25.00 each to nearly 1000 local people in the EH26 and EH25 areas of Midlothian.
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We are run by a committee elected by the members each year and staffed by a combination of volunteers and a core of part time paid staff funded by our trading.
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We spent our shareholders cash on buying the building, with support of the Scottish Land Fund, and renovating the ground floor.
Aims
To advance community development by:
Providing a community owned and managed building, which benefits the community by providing access to free food, social meeting space, activities and services that help promote all people’s ability to participate in community life.
To advance the prevention or relief of poverty by:
Promoting and providing access to locally grown organically produced food in free community meals and hot food delivery to local foodbanks and to other vulnerable groups identified in partnership with Adult Health and Care, Children and Families Social Work, Community Learning, and local charities
To advance the relief of need by:
Providing relief from loneliness and isolation through the provision of free community meeting space for a range of community groups; and by targeted individually supported volunteering opportunities for individuals.
Our target groups include people with mental health needs, people on the autism spectrum, people with learning disabilities or physical disabilities, young people coming out of care, homeless young people, ex-offenders, people in recovery from addictions and socially isolated older people.
To promote sustainable development by:
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educating about, and promoting all forms of energy use reduction,
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recycling and reuse of materials,
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local supply of goods and services
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reducing carbon use