Sponsored Editorial - An Everyday Hero – Trevor Kearns Cooks Up a Storm for Dublin’s Sophia Housing Project

Trevor Kearns, head chef at the Sophia Housing Association on Cork Street, Dublin, has been chosen as a participant in the European Commission’s “EU Together We Protect” campaign. The Sophia project aims to remove food poverty, creating healthy meals for adults and children in its cafe in Dublin, especially for the most socially excluded, the 10,000 people who find themselves homeless in the city. Kearns, who is an experienced chef, is at the helm of the kitchen at Sophia Housing, which provides housing and supports to homeless people. Though he frequently cooks for people at private dinners, it’s his work at Sophia that gets Kearns up in the morning. “It’s very rewarding,” he says. “It’s as rewarding if not more rewarding to be able to do this. I get a great buzz out of it.” Kearns said that “the Sophia project places food and nutrition at its core, protecting the health of those in their recovery from homelessness and reinforcing the importance of good food and nutrition at our Centre for preschool and afterschool children. The Centre is like an oasis - welcoming, friendly and popular with the residents, with just a lovely atmosphere around the place. There’s a lovely feeling at Sophia Housing; a warm, inclusive atmosphere that welcomes all those who are there because of hardships in life.” He has seen it change over the years, with its expansion making it “a lovely place to work”. “All of the food we prepare comes from FoodCloud, a partner organisation of the EU’s Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD). Food Cloud is a really great organisation” says Trevor. “They connect businesses that have surplus food with charities in need. With their help I can help to eradicate food poverty for residents, and I can create nutritious, healthy meals every day.” By using FoodCloud, Trevor has reduced food costs at the Sophia Housing Community by 80%. The “EU Together We Protect” campaign promotes the people who protect EU citizens through EU funded mechanisms. The campaign’s concept is ‘the chain of ordinary heroes’ from all EU countries who every day work together across Europe to protect EU citizens and their environment, safety, health and society