M&S Westbourne

Poole Waste Not Want Not, (PWNWN) is a registered charity supplying food to members of the community to those people and their families that have insufficient disposable income and need support in coping with life. Every day of the week we collect food from different supermarkets and display it in our shop on the High Street. All food surplus collection is FREE to our members, giving them nutrition choices that they may not be able to afford. We operate Monday to Saturday from 10.30. a.m. – 3 p.m. This enables our registered members the choice of food, fresh fruits, vegetables, frozen, chilled, toiletries, and treats they would not normally be able to afford. This leads to a greater sense of dignity, choice, and control and facilitates budgeting skills. As well as providing access to affordable food PWNWN is developing other services such as menu planning, budgeting, and other activities to meet the needs of our client group and signposting if necessary. PWNWN relies heavily on volunteers (currently 32) who help with food collection, sorting, shelve stacking, till operations, pricing and labelling of frozen food, etc. Many of these are clients/users and PWNWN sees that providing volunteering opportunities, support and training can help with increasing confidence, self-esteem, and skills, so assisting in an improvement in their health, well-being, life, and working circumstances. Therefore, volunteers will be provided with structured support and direction to ensure they achieve real positive experiences and outcomes from their volunteering. Social supermarket: We collect surplus food from our local supermarkets to reduce food waste and then display it Free alongside our other food. Members can then visit the shop during opening times, chose what food they wish, and then take it to the till where they are asked to donate the suggested sums displayed on the shelves (about50/ 75% off the normal retail price). This leads to a greater sense of dignity, choice, and control and facilitates budgeting skills. As well as providing access to affordable food PWNWN is developing other services such as cooking techniques, budgeting, and other activities to meet the needs of our client group relating to food insecurity. Clients can also be referred via our local crisis team or food banks who provide in extreme cases an E- code to collect free food parcels, containing fresh and essential items, we will also signpost them to other service they may find helpful such as the wardrobe foundation for clothes, Community coffee shop: An area to provide work experience for our volunteers and a setting to encourage social interaction, informal activities, more formal support group activities, etc. Training: Our volunteers are our best resource, the benefit they gain from volunteering, is vital to our community the impact this has on our beneficiary to gain skills, provides a sense of purpose, and gives an opportunity to practice and develop social skills.

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.

Creating community resilience is our mission and passion. We support the local and regional community, whether through financial, social or practical means. We believe that a community and a person thrives when connected, supported and cared for. Our support services include: a community larder and food bank, baby, pet, and hygiene bank, benefits and welfare advice service, free community café and stay and play sessions, befriending, shopping for housebound/disabled, a uk first and only medicine bank, and numerous community events for all such as our Easter and Christmas trails. Our wonderful pool of just under 100 dedicated volunteers enable our community to thrive and many friendships and support networks to form.