Our Story
During it’s first ten years, Aspire has purchased the Church building, fitting it out with a large three-storey softplay and café, offices and group space, a creative music hub, kitchens and community areas and even the UK’s only Escape room in a real Church crypt. A second building has also been purchased on Ryde high street providing income through the sale of second hand goods, alongside other community projects to maintain Bikes, Upcycle furniture and recycle paint. The upper floors are currently being converted into a housing project for people who are currently homeless.
Our Community
In ten years we have grown from a small community project to become one of the largest charities on the Isle of Wight. Our heart is for our community. Both serving it and building resilience within it to enable people to grow in confidence and ability. We continue to provide over 8000 free meals a year to those that need them, alongside hundreds of kindness bags, bags of warmth and other support. We work closely with others, such as the foodbank network, footprint trust and social prescribers to ensure a joined-up approach to our support. We see housing provision as the most pressing issue on the Island at present, and as we move into this area we are, once again, seeking to support some of the most disadvantaged people in our community.
Our work continues to be driven by the values of our Christian faith and is underpinned by the support of our local churches and their congregations as we look to welcome all, judge no one and support where we can.
Our Impact
- In the past 12 months alone, Aspire has delivered:
- Over 148,000 individual instances of contact, conversation, and support
- More than 45,000 hours of employment through our wide range of community projects
- Around 34,000 hours of volunteering, empowering local people to give back
- An estimated £27.5 million in social and economic value to the Island
Our website highlights the many projects and activities that help bring this support to life.