M&S Sutton

We are a group of volunteers in the London Borough of Sutton helping families in need by distributing fresh healthy food boxes every week. Sutton Community Project operates @ Thomas Wall Centre (52 Benhill Ave, Sutton SM1 4DP) in the heart of Sutton. Our Library cafe is open to the public every Tuesday from 2-5:30pm where free tea, coffee and healthy snacks are available for Neighbours to enjoy. Food distribution starts from 3pm. £1 donation is requeste on the front desk at arrival (this is a donation not compulsory, so you can collect a food box even when you don't have £1). A founding principle is to love our neighbours, end food poverty, and inspire communities to live in a more environmentally sustainable way. Our vision is to reduce food waste and alleviate poverty by redistributing more surplus food to families and people struggling due to the cost-of-living crisis, homelessness, and the Russian/Ukraine war, and support the community through facilitating and working with services offering debt advice & job clubs through CAP (Christian Against Poverty), parent support, and well-being courses. Our values are to provide a strong shared foundation to help our Neighbours, alleviate food poverty in the UK, and inspire our community to more environmentally friendly sustainable living for a better future for all. We also encourage and promote integration, especially with our many newly arrived Hong Kong volunteers supporting them and providing references for them as they settle in the UK. We would love to see the diverse community in our borough transformed by providing a healthy balanced food box and creating a safe community space where people can be listened to and get ongoing support while they are going through a difficult and testing time. These include families on low income, the elderly and those who feel isolated, the unemployed, adults/children with special needs, with physical & mental health issues, refugees (particularly affected by war/conflict), and affected by the ongoing cost of living crisis. We are working in partnership with The Felix Project and Critical Support / City Harvest who saves surplus fresh food and distributes it to many charities, schools, and projects in London. Donations from local schools, churches, businesses and residents allows us to make up around 120-150 healthy balanced food boxes every week to distribute to those in need who are referred by Citizen Advice, Food Banks & local charities / community groups. Since the project's launch, the service users believe that they have become more sociable, their general well-being has been improved and they are more able to solve problems in life, many have become volunteers. Our goal is to see our community transformed - for the lives of the poor & the neediest in our community to be alleviated from poverty, become more independent and realise their full potential, learn to lead more sustainable living and give back to society for a better community.

Bandon Hill is a community primary school in Wallington, London Borough of Sutton. We have roughly 450 children. Bandon Hill has a passionate and dedicated PSA made up of parents and staff who work hard to support the school community. Their focus at the moment is raising money to develop our outdoor learning area. THE MEADOW: We have a hard surface playground and ball court, and a green area known as 'the meadow'. It is this meadow area we are developing in order to make it look more attractive, support local wildlife, provide educational opportunities, and offer a relaxing and therapeutic environment to all of our children. Many of our children live in flats with no direct access to outdoor areas so our meadow really is an important part of our school. SENSORY GARDEN: We want to fill our meadow with scented plants, flowers and herbs and make it a wonderful place for the children to explore nature and learn about flowers, plants and wildlife. We will support local wildlife by attracting birds, bees and other insects. This area will benefit all children and particularly those with special needs, e.g. ADHD, autism or sensory processing difficulties. The sensory meadow can both stimulate or calm the senses and will have a hugely positive effect on wellbeing. FOOD GARDEN: We have recently started growing our own food. We have built a greenhouse and children have been busy planting seeds. We have created raised beds for the next stage and children have been regularly weeding them and getting them ready for the young plants. Our aim is to have sales of our produce and embed the scheme in our school life. Thank you for your support to improve the lives of our children.

This project supports the fantastic work that Palmer House does for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. I have been collecting food for this purpose for some ten years! Based in Croydon, Palmer House supports 60 single people up to 65 years of age with complex needs including experience of homelessness or rough sleeping, substance misuse and mental ill health. Customers are referred to Palmer House by the London Borough of Croydon and stay up to two years. The charity empowers them to make decisions about their support, including choosing their Support Worker. This person centred approach enables customers to identify their existing strengths and skills so they can achieve their goals and aspirations. The team at Palmer House believes customers can move beyond their current support needs and achieve their full potential by developing new skills and accessing opportunities. Whilst at Palmer House, customers engage in developing life and independent living skills including developing routine and structure, fostering positive relationships, healthy eating and cooking.