Heather Mills Teaches Vegan Cookery at Southend's Homeless Charity
On Thursday 6th December 2018, residents at HARP, Southend’s homeless charity, were joined by media personality, businesswoman, activist and owner of the multi award winning International pioneering plant based food company, VBites, Heather Mills who hosted a Vegan Christmas Dinner Workshop for formerly homeless residents.
HARP, who support over 1,000 people every year who are either homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, offer a programme of confidence-boosting training activities to their service users, including life skills like cookery and budgeting.
The workshop was attended by seven people currently staying in HARP’s emergency accommodation where they are recovering following a period of homelessness, including a group of residents from HARP’s women’s hostel, White Heather House, which Ms Mills officially opened earlier this year.
Ms Mills showed the residents how to cook a tasty, nutritious vegan Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, as well as sharing her experiences and providing a listening ear for those in attendance.
Gary Turner, HARP’s Service Operations Manager, said:
“ When Heather Mills offered to host a vegan cookery course at HARP we had a lot of interest from our residents. Some of our service users are vegan, and others were just curious to find out about plant based cooking. We are keen to promote healthy choices, and so this brilliant session really complemented the work we do all year round at HARP.”
Heather Mills, who has spent a life as an activist and campaigner of human rights and has appeared on many television programs, such as The Jump, Dancing With The Stars and Dancing on Ice, had a troubled childhood and went through a period of homelessness herself, so she was more than happy to take time from her busy schedule to teach the residents some of the basics of vegan cooking.
“Having experienced homelessness as a teenager I fully appreciate and support the value and necessity of HARP’s essential work.”
