ALDI WELSHPOOL

At OsNosh CIC we and our team of amazing volunteers prevent food waste through surplus food collection, redistribution and cooking. We cook surplus food creatively to educate, inspire and nourish the community, helping to fight food poverty and promote food equality. In line with covid restrictions, we are growing a community hub for people to re-engage with one another through community garden projects and community meals which tackle the rise of social isolation and will provide much needed help to heal our mental health, which post Covid has never been more important. In establishing our Hub at The Centre in Oswestry, we are creating a convenient and accessible meeting point for local people wanting to learn more about healthy food: how to source it, grow it, cook it and enjoy it. At the very heart of OsNosh is a desire and intent to connect local people with nutritious and tasty food, grown/produced locally, using methods that are sustainable and have less impact on the environment, that bring economic benefit to the sector and the region. In doing so we will meet our aims to reduce food waste, reduce environmental impact, and improve access to healthy food for all.

We have two aims: * To protect the environment by reducing food waste. Food waste has a real impact on the environment. We are saving water used to grow wasted food, energy to transport it, and greenhouse gas emissions when it rots in landfill. * To battle food poverty. We are providing good quality food, free of charge to people in the Newtown area. People can take surplus food, without charge. They are welcome to make a donation if they can afford to. We now collect daily from six supermarkets, and less regularly each week from a further five. We have developed a 'market' based approach at food shares which provides customers with open free-choice access to a wide range of surplus food. We are now saving over one tonne of food each week from being wasted. About 130 households per week come to our food shares, held twice each week in the centre of Newtown Our stock is further supplemented through purchasing core items of food for making family meals, when they are not available as surplus from the supermarkets. This is funded through a donation model and is self-sustaining. We are also reaching a widening range of customers through partnership with local family centres, nurseries, schools and community cafés to let them share and use surplus food. We have recruited an active volunteer group of more than 60. It has become clear that volunteer opportunities have been taken up by a significant number of individuals with a range of additional needs – physical, mental, social and emotional. We are developing responsive volunteer support and oversight processes which recognise our role in providing support structures and mechanisms to help other agencies and the community in meeting these needs. We have also started working in partnership with a range of other voluntary sector organisations who serve client groups overlapping with ours. They are now providing us with additional volunteers, while using our food shares as venues at which they can offer access to their services. We have been able to distribute information about services for benefits claimants and support materials related to domestic violence.

Worship services, various weekly groups and activities for all ages in relation to being a parish church in the Church of England and the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ. At the heart of everything we do is a trust in the living God who has revealed himself through his word, the Bible. During the central part of our Sunday meeting we sing a mixture of contemporary and traditional songs. We also hear about and pray for church family news. A passage from the Bible is also read and then explained to us in a talk. After the Sunday services we put surplus food donations out on share tables. Any donations are given to support Ukrainian refugees. Once a month on a Wednesday afternoon we hold ‘Cuppa, Cake, and Chat’, a free community cafe with refreshments, cake, and a thought for the day from the Bible. As people leave they can take frozen meals home with them. We also deliver food donations to the local foodbank every Monday morning. More information can be found at www.holytrinityoswestry.org