Episode 15 - Grace Chocolates changing lives
Transcript
Kirsty McIntosh
This is just a heads up for the whole of the Scottish Tech Army community. Alistair Forbes will be announcing the future of the Scottish Tech Army at an event on Thursday evening at 6.00pm. Head on over to your Slack #general channel to book your place. Hope to see you there, there’s loads to tell.
Graham Johnston 0:00
Hello and welcome to the Scottish Tech Army Podcast. I'm Graham Johnston
Kirsty McIntosh 0:05
and I'm Kirsty McIntosh. This is Episode 15 and today we're talking to Joyce Murray from Stirling based charity, Grace Chocolates changing lives, to talk about the amazing work they do and how the STA helped them after the lockdown. Hello, Joyce.
Joyce Murray 0:19
Hello
Graham Johnston 0:20
I'm really looking forward to this Joyce, thanks for joining us. I'm really interested to find out a lot more about Grace Chocolates changing lives. So first of all, can you just tell us how it came about and what you do?
Joyce Murray 0:34
It came about because we moved to Stirling and about eight, nine years ago, and I was looking to get more integrated into the community. At that time, the family hub centre at HMP Cornton Vale, which is a women's prison just in the outskirts of Stirling, were looking for some volunteers, they were setting up their family help centre, just to welcome families to make them feel a wee bit more comfortable when they go into visit some of the women. After a few years, I made a throwaway comment to my husband, when I couldn't find a nice box of chocolates. And the comment was "I'm going to get the women to help me make them. I'm going to do it myself and get the women to help me make them". I must have said it a few times. Because eventually said "will you do something about that and find out if it's a goer?" So I started to speak to some people and got huge encouragement. I am at a stage in my career, or I was then at a stage in my career where I had one career move left in me before retirement, I hope, so it was a case of do it then or don't do it at all. So held my nose and jumped.
Graham Johnston 1:42
Well done. That's amazing. And so is that how the name came about then, Grace Chocolates changing lives.
Joyce Murray 1:49
People sometimes call me Grace or ask if my Granny's called Grace or an auntie or whatever. It's grace the thing rather than Grace, the person. So grace - giving people a second chance; of forgiveness without earning it and "there but for the grace of God go I". Because having been at the family hub centre, I realised that we are all one decision away from this side of the fence or that and that's where the name grace came from.
Graham Johnston 2:18
Amazing, great story. Well done for getting all set up. I can't wait to find out more about it.
Kirsty McIntosh 2:25
So how did the lockdown affect your organisation then?
Joyce Murray 2:28
Oh, that weekend, just as the lockdown had been announced, on the Monday morning, we just got call after call after call of people cancelling orders because we supply event venues, weddings, shops, and it was really quite demoralising. We had a pretty full order book of events and orders over the summertime and just one after the other they were cancelled. So that was a bit tough. So business was really quite hardly hit because we support the women and we make the chocolate. So there's kind of two sides to our business. And yeah, it was not the easiest of mornings.
Kirsty McIntosh 3:08
Yes, I can imagine. It must have been very isolating for the women that you were working with as well then because obviously all of a sudden, you know that opportunity to be together and all that kind of thing was just sort of taken away and everybody had to stay away. It must have been pretty horrible.
Joyce Murray 3:22
Yep, we shut down almost immediately. One of the blessings that has come out, though, is that we are now able to support women across the country. Whereas before they had to be within travelling distance, we supported them particularly over lockdown remotely. We held Zoom sessions, we held chat sessions, bingo sessions, quizzes, just general catch ups via coffee. We also got some funding to be able to support them practically. And as I say that the blessing out of that was we were able to support them across Scotland, rather than just within a local area, which was one of the benefits that we were that we found.
Kirsty McIntosh 4:01
Wow.
Graham Johnston 4:03
Brilliant. And tell us a little bit about how the Scottish Tech Army has supported you Joyce.
Joyce Murray 4:10
The Tech Army have been absolutely amazing. We started off - I had contacted them asking for some support. We had an issue, an intermittent issue with our website for people placing orders online. And then through conversation they also offered to do a full security check to make sure everything was as secure and tickety boo as it could be. During a chat, we were just having a conversation and it was mentioned about support that the Tech Army were offering to an organisation for people within care homes. And it came to me that we could better support the women if we were able to offer them access remotely, particularly women whose maybe their IT skills are less polished than some other people. So providing access to all entry levels of IT skills. And that was another piece of work that they helped us with. And we're so grateful for that help.
Graham Johnston 5:09
Yeah, they're an excellent bunch, right. And I mean, leading up to this was did you have to deal with all of the tech side of the business yourself?
Joyce Murray 5:20
Yes, my tech skills are limited. Let's just say that. And I muddled through as best I could. I've got a wonderful team of volunteers who help with the website. And with social media, social media is not my forte in life. And they helped me with that, but the actual tech side of things - so when we had an issue with, for example, the website, and with people making purchases, that's just out with my skillset completely. I had been able to access some support through Business Gateway, but for the Tech Army to come in, and to have such a breadth of knowledge, that is just been such a blessing. It's been amazing.
Kirsty McIntosh 6:03
It's absolutely fantastic. How did you hear about the Tech Army in the first place?
Joyce Murray 6:07
I think I saw them through Twitter. I think it was some through the Twitter feed, that that's where I kind of followed, and then went to the website and realised that perhaps maybe I could access support as well.
Kirsty McIntosh 6:23
Wonderful. Yeah. So it's not just been one or two people that you've been working with at the Tech Army, is it Joyce. You've actually had quite a quite a few folks helping you long the way. Is that right?
Joyce Murray 6:32
Yeah, there's a whole team that have been supporting and helping so, all the different areas of expertise.
Kirsty McIntosh 6:41
Yeah, it's one of the nice things we're always able to kind of go out and find the expertise that we need, when we need it, which is absolutely great. Unfortunately, Josh Havens was supposed to with us today, but sadly, he can't be, but we'll catch up with him about this another time. He spoke very movingly, actually on a podcast episode I did with him before about just how extraordinary he finds Grace Chocolates changing lives, he just seemed to really have a profound effect on him. And that work that you're doing there is so is so impactful. And it's great that Tech Army can actually be a part of it, which is really nice, isn't it?
Graham Johnston 7:14
Tech for good supporting food for good, I guess, which, which is great, right? Because I believe that Grace Chocolates changing lives is actually going from strength to strength at the moment, and sort of really bucking the trend. So what are your plans, hopes for the future, and, you know, how has working with Scottish Tech Army made you think differently about being more digital?
Joyce Murray 7:38
We have been very fortunate over lockdown, as I had said earlier, that first weekend with all the cancellations, I didn't know whether we would actually survive, because we do get some funding, but 100% of our profits from the sale of chocolates are reinvested back into the organisation. So we do rely on the sale of the chocolates, the profit from the sale. So to have everything cancelled, or the majority cancelled was really quite a blow. Worked hard over the last few years to build up the business and then to see it, as many people are, absolutely, it's tough times for, for many, many businesses. So I've been very grateful for the orders that have come in since we opened back up. And it's about building the business back up in a different way. as so many people are having to do, we have to be creative, imaginative, a bit flexible, and go with things rather than trying to keep doing what we did, because that isn't going to happen. So it's about building the business in a new shape in a new way. And digital and online will absolutely be a part of that.
Graham Johnston 8:46
Amazing to hear, amazing to hear. I am I am a self confessed chocoholic, by the way. So this is kind of like you know, I can't stop thinking about wanting to taste these chocolates. Where do I get my chocoholic paws on some of your some of your great chocolates?
Joyce Murray 9:04
You can visit our website which is very secure and the shop works very efficiently. Thanks to the Tech Army.
(laughter) Excellent, thank you.
Graham Johnston 9:11
Great plug, I like it. Give us the give us a web address. Could you just so that the the listeners that are tuning into this and probably salivating as I am right now can you actually go and and order themselves some chocolates?
Joyce Murray 9:27
www.gracechocolates.co.uk
Graham Johnston 9:30
Simple as that.
Joyce Murray 9:32
You can also find out more about the work that we do with the women because it's not just about the chocolates. It's about giving the women the work experience and some life skills, helping them on their journey away from, away from reoffending and moving on with their lives.
Kirsty McIntosh 9:53
Can you tell us a little bit more about how you do that with them, then, that you're able to kind of do you have a programme that you follow or is it just literally just sort of engaging in conversation and just keeping in touch? How do you how do you go about doing that? Is it you know, it's obviously a bit of a challenge, you know, do you have a programme that you run through or is it is a more sort of holistic sort of thing that you work on.
Joyce Murray 10:15
The women can engage with us in two ways. They can come as part of work experience, and join us in the production, the regular production days, making the chocolates. The first thing that we do is help them get their food hygiene certificate, and then train them in all aspects of the chocolate making, and/or they can join us on our Making Positive Changes courses, which, again, thanks to the Tech Army, we've been able to move online. And we have, we got some funding to get some Kindles, some electronic devices, tablets. And the guys at the Tech Army adapted them to make sure that they were safe for the women to use to keep them safe online, and also keep the organisation safe. So that was a huge piece of work, and very, very valuable piece of work. So we've sent out some of those devices, duly adapted, and those women are using them to be able to access the course, which used to run in person, but we've now put online, and we've just finished the first part of that. We're hoping that the second part of that can be delivered after Christmas, once things open up again, but who knows, we may have to adapt that part too. But that's been a great - so they can they can access via the Making Positive Changes, programme, and/or, on regular production days.
Graham Johnston 11:41
And I can see on your website, that you've got a section that talks about Making Positive Changes as well. So I guess anyone that wants to find out more information can visit the website and visit that particular page and read all about it because it is very informative.
Kirsty McIntosh 11:58
It's extraordinary. It really is. It's I'm always blown away by the organisations that we come across at the Tech Army that you identify a problem and, and put yourself out there to kind of go and try and make a difference. I think it's I think it's wonderful. Congratulations
Graham Johnston 12:14
is incredible, really incredible work. And, you know, I think the good that you're doing is amazing for the people involved in the programme, and you know, the chocolates do look incredible on the website as well, I have to say so. It's, it's amazing all round. Yeah, fantastic.
Kirsty McIntosh 12:30
And it's great that you can reach so many more people. You know, this is, as you say, one of the odd things to come out of all of this is that it's extended your reach, which is a nice positive thing to come out of all of the awfulness of the last few months. Absolutely.
Thank you very much for joining us, Joyce.
Joyce Murray 12:45
Thank you for having me.
Graham Johnston 12:49
Aw, a cracking episode again and just great to hear what Grace Chocolates changing lives is doing and, you know, really good to talk. And I believe we've got a bit of a milestone coming up Kirsty?
Kirsty McIntosh 13:01
Yes, we do. We're six months old this week. It feels like six years, but we're six months old nevertheless. And so I'd like to say a big shout out to all of the volunteers. Congratulations, thank you so very much for every moment that you've offered us and the expertise you brought to us. And a message to all the organisations who need us to keep it coming. We'd like to keep going.
Graham Johnston 13:23
Yeah, it's a strong a strong history and a strong future as well. And if anyone needs to refresh themselves of the story of the Scottish Tech Army, how it was conceived, and what the sort of plans are for the future, then Episode 12 is where we interviewed Alistair Forbes, one of the co-founders and he talks a lot about his pride in the achievement of the Scottish Tech Army and what his kind of hopes and dreams are for the future. So it's well worth a listen back to Episode 12, if you want to sort of loop back to those thoughts. But yeah, I'll just echo that Kirsty, you know, it to me actually, who probably hasn't been as involved as you have with the Scottish Tech Army in terms of being in it every single day, I very much pop in once a week to do these podcasts over the last month or so and in the early days, maybe making some introductions and, and helping to sort of round out some volunteers. You know, it doesn't seem like six months, it seems it seems only I kind of a few days ago since we were talking about it being a month old so it's kind of crazy that six months has been achieved and you know, the strength of the Scottish Tech Army and the amount of publicity it's getting and also the good that it's doing to the third sector and also as we heard from the mental health episode in Episode 13, the good is doing to the volunteers of the Scottish Tech Army from you know, mental health and also for their own individual development - amazing stories almost feels like there may be an opportunity for us to do a sort of consolidated podcast of all the great highlights from the last six months, Kirsty?
Kirsty McIntosh 14:58
Absolutely. We definitely need to go back and revisit some of the amazing stories, it's been a it's been a joy and a pleasure and when you think about how much the world has changed in the last six months, the fact that in Scotland, the tech community here has managed to build itself a virtual community, it's just something really, really special. So a great way to great way to celebrate.
Graham Johnston 15:22
Sure is, fantastic. Well, what a great way to end this episode as well. So thank you all for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode and also a bit of a bit of a kind of, you know, back over the last six months, more of that to come. But for more information as to how to get in touch to the Scottish Tech Army. Here is thanks for joining us.
Kirsty McIntosh 15:41
Bye.
Wendy Stubbs 15:41
Our podcast music is by Whisky Kiss. Our logo is by Helen Davis at Porridge Design. If you'd like to know more about what we do and how to get involved. You'll find us at https://www.scottishtecharmy.org on LinkedIn and on Twitter @scottecharmy.