Rock n Roll Sausage Rolls

Six young women from South Tyneside joined forces through the KEY+ Challenge. Together, the group were empowered to enjoy some time out together, doing care packs for the elderly and helping those most in need in the community too.

Naming themselves the Rock n Roll Sausage Rolls, this group of young women excelled through the first two stages of the KEY+ Challenge and were ready to hit the ground running with their Stage 3 social action project. They put their minds together to determine the focus of their activity, but it was soon clear that their hearts were drawn to supporting those facing hardship.

The group got to work planning their idea. They split up tasks and activities to work more effectively together before carrying out extensive research to find local food banks in need. Their research revealed that the cost of living rise had not only impacted families using the food banks but also the organisations themselves after they experienced a decline in donations. The Rock n Roll Sausage Rolls wanted to make it their mission to support as many of them as they could and so came up with the idea to do a donation drive for four local food banks to spread the goodwill.

The young women spoke to each food bank individually to ask what essential items they needed before finding individual prices online. They stretched their budget as far and wide as they could and were soon ready for to pitch their project idea, plan and budget to panel.

The Rock n Roll Sausage Rolls were nervous but ready to face their pitch to panel head on. They talked about the skills that they developed and why they wanted to help others in need. The group presented a brilliantly detailed budget and it was clear for the panel to see the young people’s hard work and commitment, so they gave them the go ahead.

Feeling inspired and empowered by a successful pitch to panel, the young women put in the hard work in to make their project happen. They communicated with Asda stores to negotiate assistance with their mighty shop and even got them to agree to provide (for free) the young women with robust shopping crates to transport their goods more easily.

With all of their goods purchased, the group invited all four food banks to join them for a handover event in South Shields. They packed the items for each food bank separately and were excited to make their donation. It was a big achievement for the young people and they were so proud of their efforts.

The Rock n Roll Sausage Rolls flourished in confidence throughout their KEY+ Journey. The group pushed themselves outside of their comfort zones. They developed important life skills and have experience of working with budgets, speaking with people in power and authority and making an impact in their community. Their KEY+ engagement built a belief that they can take on the world which was proven to others when the young women spoke candidly about their social action experience at a recent public event held by The Key.