M&S Newport Retail Park

We are Community Volunteers Wales, a volunteer-run, registered charity in South Wales, committed to creating empowered and robust self-sufficient communities. Founded at the start of lockdown in March 2020 we sought to help those forgotten and overlooked. What started as collecting shopping and vital medication for those totally isolated by the pandemic has developed into over 200 volunteers striving for a collective impact within the community. Our mission is to create robust self-sufficient communities that have kindness and connection at the very heart. We make over 170 kindness calls in our community every week to help combat loneliness. Combating the loneliness that contributes to poor mental health we work tirelessly to connect people. Every week we have clubs and scheduled meet-ups so that those who feel alone have an opportunity to make meaningful friendships. We believe in bringing people together to support each other and build strong, lasting bonds which is why we run a coffee shop in the heart of Risca. We believe no-one in our community should suffer the side effects of poverty or isolation. Through our We Share mentality we founded Tin on a Wall to help food banks deal with unprecedented demand. We operate a Community Pantry, The Pantri based in Risca which gives members the chance to secure baskets of food for just £4. We also run a Uniform Recycle scheme to help parents offset the costs of growth spurts and back to school. Everything we do looks to redirect waste from landfill and put good quality useable items into the hands of people who need them.

This is a community group set up to help people in need and going through tough times. My aim is to collect surplus food which I can distribute to people in need. Fresh Food items, also cupboard essentials, toiletries, nappies, baby food and cleaning products. I would be able to collect from stores and then distribute to people in need. I have many years experience in this environment.

The activities include: regular public worship, prayer, bible study, preaching and teaching, with baptism and communion evangelism and mission, locally, nationally and abroad teaching and encouraging children and young people nurture and growth of christian disciples pastoral care supporting charitable social action locally, nationally and abroad. We offer a food bank where we give the ambient food out to the local community. We also freeze fresh food down on the night and store in our freezers to use for meals throughout the month. Our users are young mums and their families, they come to our church on a Tuesday and Thursday morning and have breakfast with us and take the ambient food home with them. On a Wednesday we have a drop in coffee morning were the community come in and have tea and cake and take home the ambient food with them. We get a lot of elderly people on a Wednesday and we use the pastries from M& S to give out with the teas and coffees. On a Monday we have a warm welcome which we started last winter when the cost of living meant families could not keep warm. The community asked to keep it running throughout the year as they enjoyed the company of each other. We offer them cooked food from the Sunday pickup for lunch and they take home the ambient food home with them. Once a month we cook for around 90 people this includes children and family members (Messy Church), they enjoy crafts, singing and stories, at the end we all sit around together for tea were they have a warm meal and pudding. We also have an international evening were people bring food from their culture and church also cooks food. We have 9 different nationalities attending church that we support as a lot of them are refugees; we usually have 60 people turn up for these events. Four months of the winter we have 20 homeless people sleep over in the church (night shelter) they arrive at 6 and have a warm meal, get cleaned up and spent the night with us. In the morning they have a cooked breakfast and a packed lunch is provided for the for the day time. We also have a chess club and darts evening and on a Saturday morning church members and people from the community meet up for a game of football. On the 26th may 2026 we are having a plant swap and community BBQ, crafts and music How we identify users and their needs Word of mouth from the community within the church and newport as a whole. Example , Lliswerry baptist church, sleep station, warm space in church, toddler groups within the church reaching out to families in need. Through community activities run every month at the church i.e Messy church, warm space, coffee mornings, art club and craft club also Knit and Natter craft community, we also have a chess club once week on a Wednesday evening. We rent a football pitch once a week for community football Partnerships and feed back from the community partners such as ravenhouse trust. All our services are Free