Lidl Aylesbury Oakfield Rd

The Food Rescue Group at Aylesbury brings together dedicated volunteers, community partners, and supportive local businesses to promote sustainable living, reduce food waste, and strengthen connections across the community. At the heart of our work is the challenge of food waste, an issue with significant environmental and social consequences. Producing food requires vast amounts of land, water, and energy, and when edible food is discarded these resources are lost. Much of this food ends up in landfill, where it generates methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide. By rescuing and redistributing surplus food, we help prevent harmful emissions while providing practical support to individuals and families within the Aylesbury community. In Aylesbury, we work closely with local producers, retailers, and suppliers to intercept surplus food before it is wasted. These partnerships benefit everyone involved. Businesses reduce disposal costs and demonstrate their commitment to sustainability, while the community gains access to fresh, high-quality food that would otherwise be lost. Food pickup and distribution are coordinated by Neida Begum and Nathalie Stewart, who organise volunteer schedules, oversee collections, and ensure food is delivered promptly and safely. Their leadership is central to keeping operations efficient, reliable, and community-focused. Our volunteer network includes students from nearby universities, local residents, and members of community organisations. Together, they collect and redistribute surplus food shortly after pickup, ensuring freshness while removing the need for storage facilities. Any unsuitable food is disposed of responsibly, and where possible, packaging is recycled or repurposed to minimise environmental impact. To support smooth and responsive operations, a dedicated WhatsApp group is used to share real-time updates on collection times, locations, and available quantities. This system enables volunteers to respond quickly and ensures that no opportunity to rescue food is missed. Clear communication also helps match rescued food to recipients as efficiently as possible. By diverting large volumes of food from landfill, the Food Rescue Group, Aylesbury is reducing greenhouse gas emissions, conserving valuable resources, and strengthening community ties. The impact goes beyond environmental outcomes, fostering a culture of sharing, care, and mutual support. As the chapter continues to grow, its mission remains clear: to show that small, consistent actions can lead to meaningful and lasting change.

To help add positive value in the community through brilliant community integration, cohesion and great service delivery commitment, enabling equality of opportunity regardless of their sex, race, ethnic origin, disability, religion or belief​ OBJECTIVES: To help the financially inactive people within the community with unsold food from Retail organizations - Tesco, Waitrose, Greggs, Aldi, Lidl , ASDA and McDonald's To help enhance the chances of the " Not In Education Employment or Training" get back to work by organising trainings, seminars and workshops To develop good relationships with other similar groups within the wider community in order to achieve same goals quicker and more efficiently To operate a supportive and sustainable social enterprise To improve skills and build confidence within the community through sports and good healthy living

Victory Pentecostal Church of God works in the community through a CIC company called the Caribbean Community Lunch Club. The lunch club mainly serves the over-60s. We provide a nutritious Caribbean meal every Tuesday at the Aylesbury Multicultural Centre. Many of our members face health challenges and are on numerous medications. We focus on healthy eating and living. We conducted research into some of the health inequalities facing the Afro-Caribbean community in Aylesbury. We completed research called "Exploring the reasons behind High Blood Pressure among the Afro-Caribbean Community" We run exercise classes at the club to help reduce high blood pressure and keep people moving. We have speakers from the NHS giving workshops on Mental Health, Postnatal Depression, and individuals giving their story of living with Diabetes and ways to prevent and manage the illness. The Caribbean Community Lunch Club has also completed research on the Cost of Living Crisis and how it disproportionately affects our community due to their initially low income. Many of our members who are women and are pensioners do not have a work pension, as it was not compulsory while they were of working age; they rely on the state pension. Increases in food and fuel cost becomes very challenging as state pensions do not keep pace with the food or fuel costs affected by war. We were forced to increase our food prices at the lunch club due to increased cost eg the cost to use the hall we rent doubled in price in twelve months. The caterers have increased their price by 20% this has resulted in fewer people paying for lunch. We pay a minimum guarantee to the caterers for turning up each week. We introduced a £1 fee to those not eating a meal to help pay for hall hire, but some have refused to pay it. The food we collect and distribute goes a long way in helping to alleviate food poverty amongst our community. The Caribbean Community Lunch Club has a website where you can download projects we have completed such as Cost of Living Crisis and our High Blood pressure report plus some of the community projects we do. The address is https://www.caribbeancommunitylunchclub.com