ALDI CHESTER - RETAIL CENTRE

We have two main priorities, waste reduction and anti poverty so we tackle poverty sustainably, reducing single use waste and preventing unnecessary items from entering landfill. We are passionate about our environment and we are passionate about people. We provide reusable sanitary products to eliminate period poverty for the recipients, with products lasting for upwards of a decade. We currently cover Flintshire & Wrexham. We collect and deliver fresh, nutritious food from store to door, 7 days a week; tackling in work poverty, hunger, food waste and malnutrition. Christmas Eve 2023 saw us provide food to over 26,000 people; using surplus food that would have perished in warehouses during the holiday store closures. Between 24-31st December 2023, we redistributed over 110 tonnes of surplus food! We collect, restore and redistribute baby essentials to those unable to afford them. We support and enable the use of reusable nappies for all, providing them for free for those in need, for as long as required. We currently actively cover Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham but support can be accessed from residents of bordering counties. We impose no criteria as we believe it takes a significant amount of pride swallowing to ask for help. We enable beneficiaries to retain their dignity by providing whichever service is required anonymously. We’re not too sure if we’re innovators or a bit bonkers but it works! History: Wrexham Nappy Library was born in November 2015 to aid and enable the use of real nappies for people in need in the Wrexham County. This began with free trials of a variety of types of nappy with full support and guidance. Within a short period of time, newer versions of brands were released. Now, it is essential to keep trial kits up to date. As a result, we were left with a huge surplus of obsolete but perfectly functional nappies which we decided to offer to struggling families for as long as they needed, free of charge, with the simple request that upon cessation of use, they're returned to benefit another family. We began tackling period poverty in 2016, initially by adding menstrual cups to long term loan kits but quickly revised our methods and make them available to all. We commenced food deliveries in 2017 to tackle hunger discreetly, and to divert food waste from landfill. We also get infrequent donations of baby clothes and goods which are passed on for free to families who need them - returns of these items are not requested, instead we politely ask the families to pay them forward.

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.

We are based in Connah's Quay, Deeside in a newly renovated church and community hub. We host a weekly Community Grocery (where those attending can take 10 items for £3) and a coffee shop on Friday mornings and a Mix and Mingle on a Friday afternoon. We also host conversational English classes helping people from Europe, Asia and the Middle East. We have good links with the local primary school and are developing links with the art department at the local High School who we hope will produce art from us. We have made links with the community through our pioneer missioner, our church work and our links with other faith and community groups. We rely on food supplies from Neighbourly and particularly on donations of dry goods, cans, and cereals which are often donated by individuals as part of their weekly shop. We have partnered with one of the women attending the community hub to run our Instagram page (@QuaystoneHub) and communicate our work through her Facebook.