M&S Westbourne

We run a Community Fridge from Townsend Community Centre. Running alongside the Fridge project we offer coffee mornings, craft club, free clothes, weekly cooking workshops which all take place at Townsend Community Centre. The Community Fridge abides by the same environmental health standards for food safety as other food businesses. Combined with storage for ambient food, it is stocked with surplus food from supermarkets, local shops and other food businesses as well as donations from local people. Everyone is welcome to take food, the focus being on sharing good food and ensuring it is eaten. Caroline Green, Community Liaison Officer for Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council said “A successful Community Fridge deals with so many different issues at the same time. Community Fridges are a fantastic way to deal with surplus food which has a huge impact on the environment, they can help people in food poverty to access free food and they are a chance to bring the community together over a shared resource. We are really excited to have launched the first Community Fridge in Bournemouth at Townsend Community Centre. The project is open Monday - Friday from 9-11.30am inside the Centre. Outside we have an external fridge which can be accessed 24/7. Anne Melly, Chair of the Townsend Community Growers said "The Growers are really supportive of the Fridge project. The Growers regularly grow fresh fruit and vegetables which are then shared via the Fridge.” The Fridge project regularly works with the charity, The Friendly Food Club. Cooking workshops and demos are held using food from the Fridge #wastenotwabtnot. To find out more about the Townsend Community Fridge contact caroline.green@bcpcouncil.gov.uk or 01202 301556.

The average UK family wastes £810 a year by throwing away food and drink, and £3 billion is wasted by food sectors. Community Fridges help tackle food waste by redistributing food from households and businesses to the community. Branksome Community Fridge is located in Branksome Library and Rossmore Community Fridge is located in Rossmore Library, both in Poole and are run by a team of community minded volunteers. It serves the people of Branksome by providing good quality food that would otherwise have been thrown away.

We run two soup kitchens a week to provide help to those in need. We also deliver meals and food to local vulnerable families and assist and support the local homeless community. Soup kitchens are held on Thursday and Sunday evenings. Hope for Food is a Bournemouth based organisation that was founded by Claire Matthews in 2012 with the aim of providing lifes basic essentials on a day to day basis to people in need of help due to the current economic climate. We also aim to try and bring a little happiness back into the lives of people who perhaps, through no fault of their own, find themselves without things most of us take for granted, such as food and shelter. We are entirely volunteer run & rely on donations of food to keep these kitchens & food runs going. We also have a large stock of food items, clothes, shoes and bedding donated by our supporters. We are seeking regular volunteers to help with donations, food preparation, deliveries, fundraising and administration too. Thank you for reading. We hope you will be in touch.