Paul approached Key Fund with the idea of creating an educational and training facility and Café, who gave a grant and loan mix of £105k.

Who
JCP Community Farm is a charity providing respite for special needs adults and their families. With apartments and tailored events, the farm gives meaningful support to nine clients per day.

The Challenge
Their son James was born with irreparable brain damage. Alongside cerebral palsy, in 2018 it was discovered he had a rare genetic disorder, PURA Syndrome. By his twenties, unable to speak and with limited motor skills, James required intensive 24-hour care. 

Paul imagined the scenario, where they had limited quality of life; who could they trust to care for James if they weren’t around?

The Solution

A café would bring the wider community in, offer employment to people with learning difficulties, and could develop a ‘field to fork’ model, with food grown by clients on the farm.

As the operational money dried up from the café in lockdown, with just a £10k Covid grant from their Local Authority and no meaningful government support as a new enterprise, Barbara put all her energies in the educational side of the business.

Paul approached Key Fund with the idea of creating an educational and training facility and Orangery Café. The enterprise would be an educational hub linked to employability.

Key Fund gave a grant and loan mix of £105k in September 2019 and Paul set up JPC Catering.

The Feedback

Without Key Fund’s investment, Paul said they simply wouldn’t have the café or educational hub:

“What Key Fund did was priceless; they did an amazing thing believing in us. It’s not just the money, it’s the support and professionalism. Key Fund has always been there for us, supporting us, spreading the good word and telling people about us. I can’t thank them enough.”

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