M&S Croydon

No Poverty

ln August 2007, ECE recieved a Certificate of Appreciation on behalf of 300,000 members of the IYF (International Youth Fellowship) for our contribution to the UK branch. In September 2008, Esther Community Enterprise was awarded certificates from the Lord Mayor of Croydon, for having carried out 100 hours of volunteering activities. On the 2 June 2011, ECE was awarded with theQueens Award for Voluntary Service, MBE. This is the highest award given to voluntary groups in the United Kingdom, and as such, is equivalent in status to the MBE. This prestigious UK National Honour recognises outstanding voluntary contributions and sets the national benchmark for excellence in volunteering, with the work of those awarded being judged to be of the highest standard. We aim to meet those who have needs in the local community by redistribution of food and other consumables donated from retailers. ECE makes a worthwhile collective response to the 3 tenets of sustainable development, namely social, economical and environmental needs. ECE forms a consortium with other charities, faith groups, projects and organisations. We have over 70 Project Co-ordinators. They manage and help to distribute the food/groceries and clothing items within the local communities across the UK, on behalf of ECE. We have sustained our social enterprise through the goodwill and hard work of over 400 drivers and countless volunteers, who contribute their time, transportation and finance to this worthy cause. Near sell by date food is collected on a daily basis from a range of supermarkets and other retailers and diverted to those that need it most ECE feeds in excess of 40,000 people per week and this is steadily on the increase as we expand across the UK

Each week we collect excess fresh food from local supermarkets, including Waitrose, Tesco, Aldi and M&S Food. This is usually food that is approaching its shelf-life and cannot be sold. Every Saturday afternoon we distribute this healthy food to local families and individuals in Croydon from our distribution point in Thornton Heath. We take referrals from Social Services, schools, family centres and medical centres. We also accept self-referrals from clients who can demonstrate they are on benefits, low income or otherwise in need. Our aim is to enable disadvantaged people and families to maintain a healthy diet while on a low income or no income at all. We also increase awareness of the problem of plastic pollution by encouraging clients to bring their own bags, by giving out re-cyclable bags ourselves and by distributing as much food as possible without plastic packaging.