College community comes together to help make student’s dream a reality

The trio of hospitality and catering students came together with staff across the college to sell a tasty range of burgers to staff and students – raising an amazing £1,125 for the charity.

It was all inspired by Toby Dunham-Clarke. Toby, one of the three students who spent the day in the truck, has a terminal illness and has a number of dreams he’d like to achieve – including running his own food truck. And that’s just what he did on Monday 22 January.

Supported by his friends and fellow students Reuben Gibbs and Jas Shipsides, as well as a team of dedicated staff from across the college, he opened ‘10/10 Scran’ using a truck kindly supplied by the Wicked Burger Company.

Toby said: “It’s been brilliant. It’s all about raising money for Snowdrop.

“They’ve really supported me and my mum over the years. It’s a really good charity. And the nurses – shout out to Chloe, who’s my favourite nurse - they do a lot for me, coming around every week and doing things for me, supporting me and my mum. It’s a local charity and we can really make a difference to them.

“If I was to get older, I would have liked to have opened my own food truck. This is what I wanted to do, and I’ve had a day to see what it would have been like.

“I’m really grateful to have this chance and to the college who have gone all out to make it happen. I just want to say thank you to the team at Wicked Burger as well for helping us to support a local charity.”

To help Toby get ready for his big day, he received some celebrity support with a message from leading chef Tom Kerridge – who shared some top tips to creating fantastic food.

The day was co-ordinated by staff at the college, including learning support assistant Sarah Knott, lecturer Matt Read and teaching & learning manager Andrew Ward.

Principal Helen Loftus praised the college community for their support: “This was very much a team effort, with everyone working together to help make Toby’s food truck dream become a reality.

“From maintenance to hospitality, everyone pulled together to raise money for a fantastic local charity who have done so much for families across Chichester.

“Toby really inspired the college community – he’s not been at the college for long, but he’s made a huge impact on those around him. That was reflected in the fundraising efforts and I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who donated or bought lunch from Toby’s 10/10 Scran burger outlet – especially Wicked Burger Company who provided us with the use of one of their food trucks.”

Diana Levantine, chairman and co-founder of the Snowdrop Trust, was joined by several community nurses and counsellors at the event including Chloe – Toby’s main nurse.

Chloe was overjoyed to see Toby living his dream. She said: “Toby talks about cooking and what he does at college all of the time so when he told me about this, I knew I had to pop down, try his food and support him.

“He makes brownies a lot, so it’s nice to have a burger – it was delicious. He’s done really well.

“It’s been really nice to see so many staff and students supporting him too, especially where it’s been Toby’s dream to have one of these. It’s been lovely to see him working. He always tells me about his aspirations so it’s nice to see him doing it!”

Diana added: “We’re absolutely thrilled to have been part of it, to see Toby and his friends putting on an amazing charity food truck to raise money Snowdrop.

“We know Toby won’t want us to say it, but he’s just been amazing. There were 10 members of the Care at Home Team, including nurses and our counsellor Phil, who came to support Toby, which really reflects on how much we love him.

“We didn’t know if he’d be well enough to be here, but he’s pulled out all the stops and he’s been cooking all day. He’s amazing.”