B&Q Wednesbury

The Good Shepherd has had a presence in Wolverhampton more than 50 years. During that time we have adapted and changed our services to meet the needs of our service users but food has always been at the heart of what we do. We believe that the food element of our charity is the magnet which draws in those struggling from financial poverty and hardship then once trust is formed, we can help people address other issues to improve their health and wellbeing. Our vision for the whole charity is by offering clients a wide range of services which they can use whilst attending for a meal or take away will remove barriers for vulnerable groups. We are targeting agencies that support economic self-sufficiency, relieve or prevent homelessness and improve health and wellbeing. Our main client group is rough sleepers and those who are vulnerable or in poverty as well as families in need. With the food service underpinning that help and support, tackling food waste is also something we are passionate about to ensure food doesn’t go to landfill. We have regular suppliers but are also heavily reliant on donations from the public and charitable funds to ensure we can provide wholesome meals - which our clients would otherwise not receive - to meet their daily need. The essence of the Good Shepherd is that providing food and hospitality brings in the most entrenched individuals to our services and helps us breaks barriers and gain trust which in time helps them open up on many issues. It is then we can start to make referrals and get the support needed for them to make positive and sustained changes to their lives. As mentioned, at the Good Shepherd we are passionate about reducing the amount of food which goes to waste. Over a six-month period during 2020 we prevented 25 tonnes of quality food going to waste, instead ensuring it was used within our food service and passed on to our clients. Helping us reduce the amount of food waste are the close and positive working relationships we have developed with food distributors. We work with many local restaurants and supermarkets to ensure we can make use of their surplus stock or stock approaching sell-by date that they know they will not be able to use. We served over 23,000 hot meals in 2023 driven by the aim of providing good and healthy food so that we know those accessing our services were receiving at least one good, nutritious meal each day.

We are a ministry without walls. Our mandate is to be an answer to those who need help the most. At present we do food distribution within the west Bromwich area on a Saturday and in Birmingham City Centre on a Monday evening/night. Our goal is to find a building that we could use as a homeless shelter, to cater for the needs of our growing homeless community. As to work as an advocate to help them back into our communities. We self fund our project with the help from Tesco supermarket and Greggs bakery donations. We also have a project for children and young people called MisFits Mentorship. MisFits Mentorship aims to engage marginalised children and youth their rights to health and education services in the Birmingham. The project was created to bring together local young people in a safe place to find support with life issues that they are experiencing today. Our aim is to support and promote the health and well-being of young people in Birmingham and the surrounding area by offering advice, guidance, counselling, mental health awareness, wellbeing activities and social prescribing.

We are all small group of parents, teachers and community enthusiasts who aim to improve the education ans overall well-being of all students who attend Kings Rise Academy. We aim to improve the literacy and environmental education that all children receive through initiatives and events to raise funds to improve the current school grounds. Kings Rise Academy prides itself on supporting all families in need! For many years the school has run a weekly food bank on a Wednesday which supplies essential food packages to families in need. The school communicates the availability through the in house communication platform to families and they advise the school, via a Google form, it they are in need of support. The school currently has its own set up with food arrangements however the PTFA has always offered a helping hand with distribution. Recently, we have seen a growth in the number of families who need support, however we do not have the resources to feed all the families who come to us. As our PTFA evolves over time we have become aware of where our support is most needed for children and families. We have now decided to get on board with the existing team at the school to see if we can also provide surplus food to boost the amount of food we can hand out to families. This will allow us for provide necessary food parcels to even more families and ensure that when food is needed, nobody goes hungry! Friends of Kings Rise PTFA do not charge for any surplus food donations and currently have no surplus food donations in place to offer the existing set up and we have not had any media involvement in our efforts at this time. Recent Projects: Recently we established that some of the wider school grounds which are viewed by the general public needed sprucing up. A team of 4 volunteers came together and tackled the weeds, rubbish and old plants to give the area a new and fresher look! Fundraising: Our Easter event went extremely well and we were able to raise just over £200. This allowed us to purchase new bikes, trikes and scooters for our youngest students in the nursery at Kings Rise Academy :)