Williams backing for mental health café

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11 July 2023
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Williams Refrigeration has donated a refrigeration cabinet, worth around £3,000, to a mental health café in King’s Lynn.

Operated by regional charity Access Community Trust, the Steam House Café offers holistic support, therapies and activities during the day and urgent assistance and appointments in the evening, including one-to-one counselling. 

Williams HR manager Georgina Clark became aware of STEAM (Support, Transform, Eat and Educate, Aspire, Motivate) through her support work with staff.  “Mental health has rightly been taken much more seriously in recent years,” she said. “I had heard about the Steam House Café and went along to see for myself what they offer. It’s wonderful because as well as offering a walk-in service staffed by mental health support workers, the counselling takes place in a very relaxed, café style environment… which is where our fridge came in!”

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Holly Bridges, the Crisis Café’s service manager at King's Lynn, said: “STEAM’s customer base has grown significantly since we opened our community mental health café. It has become a beacon of hope for the growing number of local people who are facing wellbeing challenges. 

“This welcome donation from Williams Refrigeration not only allows us to provide a greater range of food and drinks for those visiting us, it also shows that, as a local business, the company recognises the importance of the vital service the STEAM team provides.” 

Apart from needing a bigger fridge, another problem the café had was a lack of space.  “They needed more chilled storage, but they didn’t have a whole lot of room,” says Georgina.  “Our team found the answer for them in the Jade J500U – it fits their bill perfectly!  What’s more, our transport partner, GE-BE, agreed to deliver and install the fridge to the café for free, so big thanks to them as well!”

The Williams J500U is 1940mm tall, has a footprint of 727mm by 837mm and a big capacity of 523 litres.  The model also has the refrigeration unit fitted under the cabinet rather than on top. This is ideal for kitchens with low ceilings, since top-mounted systems can overheat if there is not enough room for them to ventilate.  With an under-mounted system, there is plenty of room for the air to circulate and keep the fridge cool.  

  • Pictured, from left, are Stephanie Gaughran (Crisis Café host), Tom Middleton (commercial & customer service manager, Williams), Holly Bridges (Crisis Café service manager), Jonathan Lewis (performance improvement manager, GE-BE Transport) and Georgina Clark (HR manager, Williams)