Lunch Positive is a grassroots community based organisation providing food, friendship, peer support, advice and information. Provided by brilliant volunteers we have supported more people than ever this year, providing constant support, helping hundreds of people to cope with many challenges and disadvantages of living with HIV. These include loneliness and isolation, diminished mental health, financial disadvantage and food poverty. Our charity provides an HIV lunch club & friendship groups, HIV food bank, befriending, outreach and wellbeing programmes. Importantly, the work undertaken is provided by volunteers who are themselves people living with HIV, and their allies
Small charities like ours often miss out on the high profile fundraising that larger organisations are able to develop, and we do not have any paid fundraising staff. Please support us and know that every penny raised goes directly to support people in the community.....
"You have been a life saver, literally! I really don't think I'd be here now without you."
said Alan, a service user who was isolated at home with no social contact. He had been having suicidal thoughts, was struggling to afford food and felt totally alone. We provided telephone befriending, food deliveries, and support to attend the lunch club. He is now happy, coping, with new friends & support, and comes along every week
We provide a weekly HIV lunch club and monthly supper groups, befriending, outreach food deliveries and crisis food bank, social activities and peer-support gatherings. Our community services are for anyone living with HIV in Brighton & Hove, and Sussex. We provide a unique community space for people with HIV to spend safe and supportive social time together, combatting social isolation and loneliness. We improve the health of our members by providing a regular healthy subsidised meal, important to people with a compromised immune system and who often do not eat well due to low stamina or mood, disability or poor mental health. We facilitate peer support, advice, and outreach from other services. We have an inclusive and accessible volunteering programme, inclusive and welcoming and enabling anyone to get involved.
Why the community needs us
The locality has a high number of people with HIV. Living with HIV can be a difficult and turbulent life challenge. Stigma still exists and many are socially isolated. Often people do not eat well due to low income, disability or low mood. Meeting at lunch club and as part of our wide range of activities provides an informal, safe and supportive space for people to share peer support, care for one another, find information and build support networks. Our service has positive impacts on people's health, sense of wellbeing and community.
Our impact on the community
We carry out a formal evaluation each year which includes surveys, questionnaire and case studies. Our most recent evaluation showed that: We provide improved access to good nutrition and diet. People felt less isolated and had built social networks. People had found peer support which they had not previously encountered. People found useful advice and information around health, living with HIV and medications. Peoples' sense of mental well-being had improved through coming along Volunteering gave people sense of purpose, achievement and greater inclusion.