EARLIER in December, we reported that Harlow Council was about to set up a community orchard on the Canons Gate allotments.

The council has plans to regenerate the area. The orchard will include a range of trees including several fruit trees and the community and local groups will be invited to be a part of the new project (see full article above).

You may recall that back in 2023, the Canons Gate allotment, off the Fold Croft area of Harlow, was the centre of national and international media attention after local resident, Carly Burd alleged that vandals had poured salt on the community allotment she was nurturing there.

On the back of worldwide publicity, over £254,000 was raised via Carly’s GoFundMe page in order to help Carly and her cause of alleviating poverty in Harlow by creating a community allotment.

But the whole project ended up in what we can only describe as “development hell”. In short, Carly Burd and Harlow Council parted ways.

Harlow Council still prepared to negotiate with Carly Burd over allotments (as under-fire councillor takes legal advice)

You can see all the articles relating to this subject in the link below.

https://yourharlow.com/?s=carly+burd

The last we heard of Carly was when she donated £70,584 to a variety of causes across Harlow. Again, see below.

Carly Burd’s GoFundMe Page gives vital cash boost to Harlow charities (but three decide to turn money down)

After that, Ms Burd has maintained a low profile.

This month, saw the publication of A Meal On Me With Love’s accounts on Companies House.

It shows that of the £254,000, there is £106,801 left in the account.

£69,228 was transferred out of the CIC to other organisations.
£33,404 was allocated for Corporation Tax.
£10,580 is allocated for other debts.

So we thought we would take this opportunity, at the end of 2024, and as so many people (14,993) from around the world had donated money to the GoFundMe page, to find out what plans Ms Burd had for the rest of the money?

We were aware that the accounts reflected the financial position ending April 2024.

So, via e-mail we asked Ms Burd the following questions.

1.How much of the £106,801 was left?

2. If you have spent any of the £106k, then what have you spent it on?

3. If you haven’t, what are your plans regarding the £106,801.

4. If you have not, what has prevented you from doing the same as before. That is to say, give the money to worthy causes across Harlow.

Ms Burd has yet to reply.

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Whilst we were writing this piece, we thought we would ask the organisations given money from Carly Burd and A Meal On Me With Love, what they did with the money.

Here are their replies

Roots To Well Being

Carly Burd’s generous donation has enabled us to support over 120 families at our Under 5 Reach group and SEND holiday clubs. We are able to purchase and provide food for these sessions from supermarkets, which have increased their costs. We currently support over 300 service users, including adults, children, and babies, through free and low-cost services.

Our families come from PDRs, the women’s refuge, those fleeing from domestic violence situations.  Many of these families are on benefits, barely existing on the poverty line.

Roots to Wellbeing continuously collaborates with local agencies such as Rainbow Community Hub, Ecco, Community Embrace UK, MRCT, and Foodbank/Bounty Club. Tara Whittle, our Director and  Service Lead also spoke at the recent Poverty Alliance Conference about our work with PDR housing of which, as you will no doubt recall, Harlow has the highest number of PDR residents in the country.

We offer various services to reduce poverty’s impact, including feeding families at our groups, holiday clubs, and Reach Pre School family Village. Our outreach, advocacy, and counselling support those with physical, mental, cognitive, and emotional health needs. Our free Cycle Recycling service has donated over 145 cycles locally and is very much in demand.

We rely on small grants and donations to provide essential services to vulnerable community members. As a CIC, we submit audited accounts to Companies House, detailing our donations and expenditures.

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The Michael Roberts Charitable Trust

From April to the end of November this year the cost of running the Harlow Foodbank has been £102,221. Within that cost is £19,296 spent on buying additional food to supplement that which has been donated to us by the general public. This has enabled the giving out of 2,957 food parcels helping 6,676 people of which 2,562 are children. Like most foodbanks around the country we are giving out more that we receive and welcome continued financial donations towards us like that which was given to us by A Meal on me With Love. This will help us get to the end of the financial year when we are likely to help over 10,000.

The second donation went to the Bounty Club which subsidises low-cost food sold to members. So far this year this has been underwritten by just over £70,000 for which the donation of £7,962 has been very helpful. Again, we hope that more donors will come forward to support this venture which now has over 2,000 members and is estimated to save those who come around £56 per month.

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Harlow Rock School

Earlier this year, our organisation received a generous donation of £7,962 from Meal on Me with Love (Carly Burd). We are grateful for this contribution, which has significantly supported our efforts to benefit the community and address local challenges.

The donation was made without restrictions on its use or requirements for formal reporting. Before accepting the funds, our trustees carefully reviewed and approved their allocation following our policies, which apply to all donations exceeding £1,500.

The funds have been utilised in the following ways:

1. Community Engagement through Rock the Park:
   A portion of the donation was used to provide food and refreshments for volunteers and performers at our two-day Rock the Park event. This family-friendly event, offered free of charge, aimed to foster connections within the community and promote inclusivity.
2. Ongoing Volunteer and Student Support:
   Additional funds have been allocated to provide refreshments for our volunteers and students during regular sessions and events. This helps to sustain their commitment and enhance their experience while participating in our programmes.

We take pride in the fact that our volunteers are unpaid, reflecting their dedication to our mission. All donations, including this one, are directly reinvested into our projects to maximise their benefit for the students and the broader community.

We hope this overview demonstrates the positive impact of this generous donation and the meaningful ways in which it has supported our activities.

ASL and Bridget’s Cafe

I wanted to share an overview of our recent activities funded by the £7,962 we received from a Meal on Me. As agreed, we invested 100% back into our ASL community of supporters and members ensuring that we covered as many bases as possible. 

We organised various days for the elderly aimed at reducing isolation and enhancing engagement among those we support at ASL. This included bingo games, a two-course lunch at our pop-ups in Harlow, unlimited hot drinks, and additional entertainment over a span of 10 weeks.

We also provided free food for collection to anyone in need and at their discretion.

In regards to your question – how did we alleviate poverty? In order to alleviate poverty in the UK it could cost an estimated £67 billion per year, sadly our £7,962 donation we received wouldn’t scratch the surface. As always at ASL we did our absolute best to give back in whichever way we saw possible. 

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The other organisations: Herts and Essex Meals, Roots Pod and Phoenix Live have not responded to our e-mail.