Women’s Centre making Footprints to sustainability

Looking after our area for future children is as important as helping families now.

That’s according to Eileen Wilson, who has been supporting women and children at Footprints Women’s Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for nearly 30 years, as well as leading on their environment work.

“Women come to us for immediate support, but we work with them to find out what they really need to change their lives longer term, and that of their families. The same applies to environmental sustainability, small steps now can affect the future,” explained Eileen.

Footprints Women’s Centre was established in 1991 to support, nurture and empower women and their families. It started in a rundown doctor’s surgery and transformed to an award-winning Centre, the largest community employer in the area that provides childcare provision, women and family support, training and education programmes, healthy living projects, volunteering opportunities and a Social Supermarket.

Eileen has been at the forefront of its success.

“Food and the kitchen have always been central to our sustainability journey. Not only in the early days to feed families who were struggling, but to spend time together talking about what we wanted to achieve as a community.

“Sourcing food and recycling waste were part of conversations we were having, and this led to forming a garden group so we could grow our own fresh produce in the grounds. 20 years later, the Food Garden is still thriving,” continued Eileen.

A game changer for Footprints was receiving an Energy Efficient Venues grant from The National Lottery Community Fund in 2013, which helped them make improvements to their building.

“We installed sensor switches for lights, upgraded the insulation and installed solar electric and hot water. 30% of the Centre’s hot water and electricity come from these, and each year we receive £1,000 back from the grid – that's a saving of around £12,000 alone that we can use elsewhere to help families.”

The National Lottery Community Fund currently has a range of programmes open that can help groups consider the environment and be more sustainable. This includes their flagship Awards for All small grants programme and UK wide Climate Action Fund, which provides multi year grants to help communities come together and support the environment in their everyday lives.

Eileen said: “As part of our National Lottery grant in 2013, we had an expert do an energy audit, looking at costs and the impact of everything on the environment. It’s hard to explain what sustainability means to people, but everyone understands more money in their pocket and reducing waste.

“I began as a Catering Coordinator and have learnt more along the way. You don’t need to be an expert. It is about making big concepts real and meaningful to ordinary people, like recycling and growing.”

Thanks to further funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, Footprints established a Social Supermarket to redistribute food to families in need and opened a Cookery School, where surplus food is prepared for the Supermarket and the homeless, while providing accredited training.

“Each year we divert 20 tonnes of food from going to landfill, that’s over 54,000 meals and a saving 47 tonnes of carbon emissions, the same as fuelling 11 cars.

“But the impact is more than that. We are changing the lives of families for generations, by teaching them how to access, grow and make nutritious but inexpensive meals, bringing families together and improving wellbeing.

“We run courses on mending instead of throwing out and do crafts with items from nature or would have normally been dumped. Women are so proud of what they create together while making friends, and they act as a reminder that somebody’s trash really can be another person’s treasure,” Eileen explained.

Eileen would encourage other community organisations to think about environmental sustainability. She said, “We didn’t know where this would lead when we started. I am so proud that we have won national awards around sustainability and our site.

“We still have conversations which drive us forward. My latest project is researching an underground water vault for reusing rainwater in toilets and hope to get this underway in the near future.

Reflecting on her years at the Centre, Eileen said: “It has been amazing. Bringing these big ideas to people and empowering them to be part of a movement on climate, while changing their own lives. It’s a real privilege.

“I am looking forward to being out in my own garden again too, getting my vegetables growing. My whole family are on board. We love it.”

For more information on National Lottery funding visit: The National Lottery Community Fund