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Lochwinnoch Food Committee is a dignified food project with a Pantry distributing surplus food from supermarkets four days per week. We deliver parcels to vulnerable houses on a fifth day, and out Community Fridge/Freezer is open 24/7 for members. Membership is free and we operate on a pay-what-you can donation basis. We have nearly 2000 members and more than 70 volunteers aged from 12 to 80! The aims of the projects are to tackle food insecurity locally as well as the climate emergency. We grow our own food too in local sites. The Larder is about more than just food though - it's a social hub where friendships form and people connect. We're reducing social isolation and also helping to signpost people to other support services; it's easy to fall through the gaps when living rurally. People from across Renfrewshire and North Ayrshire access the project - all are welcome! We also run free cooking classes as fermenting demonstrations. We also have two sister-projects: the Feel Good Festival is a programme of wellbeing events designed to help build community, connect people and tackle mental health. We also have Diggin' It which is an initiative supporting people to grow their own food from their own homes. It includes a free Seed Library and a garden equipment swap-shop. We are also developing a new project idea to help us become more financially sustainable. the idea is for this to be a retail space and Community Hub. We hope to develop a community kitchen, charity shop and pop-up eatery which we can use for all the projects and could also help generate some income. Between the projects, we can use pretty much any kind of surplus - food, kitchen equipment, homeware, clothes, decorating equipment and tools, gardening equipment and plants.

Nourish This Hunger project has shown the need to help set up projects such as a Community Food Club here in Salford.. There is a desperate need out there. The Community Food Club called Family Food Fayre commenced in January 2021 on Mondays and Thursdays. We have also set up a food club each Wednesday for those in flats in Pendleton in response to the needs in the area. The food club links into the our support hub to provide support for any in need. as well as any struggling with being homeless. This also provides housing and employment advice as well as funding for energy crisis with those on pre-payment meters. We have also set up other Food Clubs in Radcliffe (2) and another in West Salford. Each one helping out with different help including employment/Digital Inclusion/housing/ mental health/surgery advice/debt advice and energy vouchers. The Narrowgate Night Shelter sadly closed in March 2020 due to COVID-19. So another way in which we support homeless people is through Operation Joy, our street outreach program and support hub. Volunteers are now helping the vulnerable on the streets and in the hub with Paul Winter and Daryl. We also have a resettlement worker Cath as well as Nick, the chaplain who goes into help people in three prisons in the area.

“We are fighting food waste and preventing residual food from going to landfill. The residual food is repurposed to ensure no one goes hungry”. We have a retail shop in the centre of High Wycombe. The shop is open 6 days a week. We have a warehouse on the first floor where we can sort and distribute food. This allows us to both run a shop feeding those in need and supply our partner organisations. We are collecting from leading major supermarkets within a 15-mile radius of High Wycombe. We also receive direct deliveries from manufacturers and warehouses. We are also a member of the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) which represents independent food banks and distributors across the UK. Our Food Hub model allows us to manage not only residual food but also ambient, chilled, and frozen food. The fact we have both a retail and wholesale distribution ability has been identified by Fare share as one of a few operations in SE England with this capability. Who do we supply? WFH supply products to people unable to access or buy food, those that cannot get Government aid or are unable to survive on the Government’s benefit payments, those who are now suffering from loss of jobs and the self-employed who cannot get benefits, those who cannot access the traditional referral foodbanks. The range of people coming to us for help is growing weekly. Considering what is happening nationally the need for our food and services will continue to grow. We have partnered with other charities and groups and we are supplying residual product to food distribution organisations across Bucks. We are also piloting supplying food to partner organisations who are using the ingredients in hot meals and school food packs. Current scale of operation We have volunteers out each day and evenings collecting residual food. We currently collect more than 250 crates a week from leading supermarkets, warehouses, and retail shops. Food that would otherwise go to landfill. We have a retail food hub open 6 days a week for 3 hours each day We are directly feeding Circa 500 people each week through our retail food hub and partners. In addition, we offer free food outside of the hub . Our wholesale operation is supplying both food parcels and crates of food to our partners. We are also now being asked to supply food to be used in the preparation of cooked meals. Our wholesale operation is growing each week as more organisations draw on our services Funding streams We receive no statutory finding from govt of Council. We rely on donations from public and by asking for a donation from users of our retail hub. We also supply food free to the charities and organisations who are taking food from us each week.