Lidl Forres

The company has been formed to benefit the community of the Forres Academy catchment area with the following objects: 1. To advance citizenship and community development: - to advance community development including rural regeneration and the promotion of civic responsibility , volunteering, the voluntary sector and charities within the community - to promote, establish, operate and/or support other similar schemes and projects of a charitable nature for the benefit of the community within the Forres area 2. To advance and protect the environment, culture and heritage: - involve local people in caring for the area's environment, heritage and culture and encourage others to visit the area 3. Education: - to advance education and lifelong learning for the benefit of the general public but such that the company shall do so following principles of sustainable development Our aim is to make the Forres Area a better place to live, work and visit. We own and run Forres Town Hall and support residents and visitors in the Forres Academy Catchment Area which has a population of over 16,000. The people who use our services and activities include individuals signposted from the DWP, Forres Job Centre, Health & Social Care, Moray Council and Moray Pathways. A large number of participants also access our projects due to word of mouth and through direct marketing e.g. social media, emails to schools and promotion through stakeholders. Depending how individuals are sign posted to us will influence how we establish the best way to support the needs of an individual. This can be through a more formal process if they are interested in the Volunteering and Befriending Opportunities or if they require a Food Parcel Referral. We can also support in a less formal way by signposting to other organisations or giving direct help. We adopt a holistic approach so that we can assist each person appropriately. As well the Forres Pop Up Pantry, we also organise Projects that provide support for the whole community to improve digital inclusion, help with the cost of living crisis, reduce social isolation and support mental & physical health. For most of our activities there is no charge as they are supported through external grant funding. Where funding is not available but there is a need or demand for a service or activity we try to make sure this is as affordable as possible. Membership to Pop Up Pantry is free and we ask for a donation of £3.00 per shop. Shopping is limited to 1 shop per household each week and enables members to take up to 10 items from 5 food categories. There is often a free table as well which has items that are out of date but are still useable. We currently collect surplus food from both Forres Coop Stores via their Caboodle Scheme, from Boots, Iceland & Tesco via the Olio Scheme, from Lidl via the Neighbourly scheme as well as from Moray Food Plus plus donations from a variety of local growers.

Moray Food Plus provides crisis provision to those in need across Moray; in the financial year 2018 - 19 we fulfilled 1950 referrals for crisis support, assisting 4440 people. This is a 45% increase in the number of referrals and 55% increase in the number of people supported on the previous year. Our mission is for people with direct experience of food insecurity to contribute to help shape services, to develop and run projects that recognise the social value of food, to provide opportunities for people to contribute to projects through volunteering, and where possible, to enable people to choose what they eat in a dignified way. We are committed to moving away from a traditional foodbank model and have actively pushed to develop and deliver more early intervention based work through a variety of projects: • Community larders providing a food store to those most in need • Surplus food recovery and redistribution to support community groups • Cooking sessions to children, families and vulnerable adults • Holiday clubs with food provision • Older people’s lunch club • Community meals • Growing projects • Awareness raising and strategic work

Nairn Foodnest is a Community Project which has been set up to address the issue of food waste. We have volunteers ,who will collect the available produce from shops in the area, and make it available at our central location. This is a shed with a fridge and is in ground adjacent to Nairn Old Parish Church. The food will be free to everyone in the Community and we plan to have the shed open daily between 8am and 8pm. This is an exciting new project and we hope people will be keen to get involved. We hope we will be able to engage with other Community groups in the area to further reduce food waste .