ALDI ELLESMERE PORT

Hi, it's Sarah & Dawn who for the last 18 months have run The Cupboard Elton. We are now starting under our own umbrella. We aim to help the most vulnerable in our community. We believe it's a basic human right to have access to food. As a community project, we strive to achieve zero waste. So many families are struggling through this cost of living crisis & we endeavor to make life a bit easier for them. We continue to support our local community by working in partnership with other charities, offering free packed lunches to all primary-aged children throughout the school holidays. Throughout the summer holidays, we can provide ice cream to the community. We have also supplied it to the out-of-school club, The Table Ellesmere Port, and the Messy church. Supporting our local Church with the Pensioner's afternoon tea and the soup kitchen. This is run every month but throughout Lent, this becomes a weekly event. We deliver food parcels to the elderly who are less mobile. We hope to be in a position to help more organizations within our village and surrounding areas We can provide information and support about the local food bank and other charities that can also provide support to the most vulnerable. We are operating from the Anchorage at the Elton Church Hall.

We founded The Cupboard Network in order to help prevent food waste in the community. We are horrified at how much perfectly good food goes to waste due to widely inaccurate use by/best before dates. We found ourselves with a lot of surplus food after collecting and distributing from various organisations, and thought we would offer it out into the community via our "community cupboard". We've quickly had to expand due to such a fantastic response from the community and we've been able to provide lots of food parcels to vulnerable people, whilst also tackling the war on waste! The cupboard is open to everyone, regardless of background or income as our main focus will always be to reduce the amount of food that goes to waste. We do ask for a small donation where possible if you come to collect from us; as little as £1 here and there helps us to continue to offer this service. We opened The Table Community Café in March 2023, providing free hot and cold meals and refreshments at our full table service café. We operate a food bank session every Wednesday and Citizen’s Advice are on hand for queries. If you've got any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! Keep fighting this war on waste with us! We appreciate you ❤

The Port Grocery is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company diverting perfectly good food away from landfill for the benefit of our local community. We run a membership based community shop, The Port Grocery which provides high quality affordable food. Members pay a £10.00 a week membership fee which enables them to come into our shop and choose between £20.00 and £30.00 worth of food every week. Our shop operates a ‘Tick and Collect’ system, where members tick items they want from a list and from a board and their shopping is packed for them by our staff and volunteers. A home delivery service, We have a very wide product range including meat, fish, fresh fruit and vegetables, tinned food, cereals, bread, dried food, cakes, cheese, yogurts, ready meals and non food such as washing detergents, shampoo shower gel, washing up liquid, nappies, baby milk, as and when available, school uniforms, clothes, house hold goods, and much more. In conjunction with Flynn's Port in the Storm, Crisis Café and House Hold Support fund we hold a crisis fund that we use for anyone in genuine hardship to help by providing food clothes and household items. food Every week we also run a completely free community lunch, Wednesday Welcome. Our community lunch is open to everyone and provides over 200 hot meals every week. It’s a great place to meet new friends and connect as well as eat some completely free, tasty food all year round. Our volunteers cook up a storm in the kitchen every week using food that otherwise would have gone to waste and turning it into delicious food for everyone. We provide sandwiches, fresh soup, hot meals such as fish pie, pasta bake, stew, puddings, cakes and hot and cold drinks. Wednesday Welcome has also become a focal point in our community which enables individuals to get unmet needs addressed. Our open-door policy ensures we are inclusive and non-discriminatory and removes any stigma from accessing our activities and services. We also divert much needed food and none-food items to local charitable organisation that support vulnerable people in local communities. In addition we provide food to other food groups who do not have the capacity to collect and store supplies.