MEET THE WIGGLY WORM: B1G1’S NEWEST PROJECT THAT USES FOOD AS AN EMPOWERMENT TOOL

by Masami Sato

Here’s the old saying, ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime‘.

An organization by the unlikely name of Wiggly Worm does the latter, using food as a tool to nourish the mind, body and spirit. Founded in the U.K. in 2007, Wiggly Worm provides meals in addition to teaching food preparation as a means of creating sustainable change in people’s lives.

It’s all about helping individuals to build a better society and realize that they are worth something, and that they can give something back and be a part of something.

says Wiggly Worm Managing Director Abby Guilding.

Food is such a great leveller and such a great way of bringing people and their communities together.

Wiggly Worm offers programs like the ‘Kitchen Challenge’ and ‘Kitchen Impossible’ to teach life skills to participants through team building activities. The ‘No Child Hungry’ campaign provides meals for local children, and the ‘Little Green Wiggly Machine’ offers catering services and popup meals by day that fund meals for the less fortunate by night.

These programs make a huge impact for participants like Debra Kearley, who had been in and out of rehab and needed help piecing her life back together.

She started out by participating in the ‘Kitchen Challenge’, and is now a chef for Wiggly Worm’s Star Bistro.  Today, Debra has her home and family back. “If I can do it, anybody can do it,” says Debra.

I’ve gained respect and I’ve got a good life now.”

The Wiggly Worm team continues to innovate and come up with new ways to use food to empower individuals. The team always uses nutritious, high-quality ingredients, and that quality allows the organization to bring in a steady revenue stream.

This is one of the reasons that drew B1G1 business member Aynsley Damery to the project, but also because it’s right in his backyard. Damery put it on B1G1’s radar, and today B1G1 is so excited to partner with Wiggly Worm for years to come.

If you have a suggestion for a project near or afar that you know does amazing things changing the world, and would be a good fit for the B1G1 business community, please let the B1G1 team know!

Support Wiggly Worm’s Project here.