Lidl Manchester Prestwich

Who do you help and how do you find them? RCCG New Jerusalem Church Manchester supports individuals and families within our local community, particularly people experiencing financial hardship, food insecurity, social isolation or other challenging circumstances. We identify people who may need support through our church's community activities, referrals, existing relationships with local residents and direct approaches from individuals and families seeking assistance. Our support is open to people in need within the wider community and is not limited to members of our congregation. What support are you looking to receive from Neighbourly and how will this help you? We are particularly interested in receiving surplus food donations from local retailers through Neighbourly. This would enable us to provide additional practical support to individuals and families who are struggling with the cost of living while also helping to prevent good food from going to waste. We would also welcome opportunities for grants and volunteering support where available, as these could help us strengthen and expand our community activities. Do you charge for your services? No. Our community support and any food received for distribution are provided free of charge to beneficiaries. We do not sell donated or surplus food. How would food donations work for you? Our volunteers would arrange collection of surplus food from participating retailers at agreed collection times. The food would then be handled responsibly and distributed free of charge to individuals and families in need through our community support activities. We would aim to distribute food promptly and fairly, taking account of the needs of beneficiaries and any food-storage or use-by requirements.

We collect waste food and share the surplus food with our community in Prestwich, to reduce food waste and help people to feed themselves and their families. It is open to the public. All the food is free. The fridge is located at Prestwich library and open Tue- Fri 10-4.30pm Sun 10 -1pm

Our aims and values in this project are; Reducing the amount of food that goes to waste Around 15 million tonnes of food is wasted every year in the UK alone, and the vast majority of that food is perfectly edible. The lowest carbon, most sustainable thing we can do with food that is going to go to waste is put it in a belly, any belly, rather than a bin, any bin (landfill, anaerobic digestion, animal feed, or compost). For every tonne of food that we save from going to waste, we save around 4.2 tonnes of CO2e from being emitted, and around 10% of the UK’s carbon footprint comes from food that is produced but never eaten. Providing access to enough food and great food for all Open Kitchen MCR is, among many other things, a live experiment in alternative economic models. The project operated for 3 years on a pay-as-you-feel basis, inviting members of the public to decide how much they would pay for their meal in a huge range of settings. While this model had huge social and environmental positives, it proved financially unsustainable. Open Kitchen MCR’s catering social enterprise operates on a pay-it-forward basis. The project offers catering at set prices, with one rate for private and corporate customers, a lower rate for established not-for-profit groups, and free or heavily subsidised catering for grassroots groups who are supporting vulnerable adults. Dignity, choice and social inclusion - a positive community future Our pay-as-you-feel model (employed at our city centre restaurant, open from Sep 2017 - Aug 2018) offered an innovative, inclusive model that deliberately bucked the trend towards dedicated “food poverty project” models. There are a number of projects that target people in food poverty, and in our current economic climate they are essential. However, the fact remains that by targeting people in food poverty, we also further separate and isolate them. Open Kitchen MCR aims to develop an alternative model that can evolve along side these projects, and offer a more inclusive option to bring a wider range of people together. Unfortunately, we found it wasn’t possible to support pay-as-you-feel financially, for a range of reasons. Our current outside catering venture operates on a pay-it-forward model, and supports grassroots groups that offer dignity, choice and support to vulnerable adults. We hope to continue our experiment into alternative economic models, and trial a new socially inclusive cafe / restaurant space in 2020.