ALDI RHYL - MARINA QUAY

As part of Denbighshire County Council, based at Hafan Deg day centre in Rhyl, our aim within the UK Resettlement team is to help all Syrian, Afghan, asylum families and families who are fleeing the war in Ukraine . We support with many issues, including housing, education, english learning and all the key areas which support their integration into their local communities. Whilst we primarily work out of our office, we also offer a drop in setting once a week and regularly go out to visit our families in their homes, and the local area. Our families are identified to us by Home office or Welsh government. Due to the cost of living crisis, a large number of our families have been struggling to fund a basic lifestyle and have resorted to food banks to help support them. Food is an incredibly important part of the different cultures we support and is used to show love and support. Any food donations we receive would be handed out to the families we are currently supporting, with more to come as the weeks go on.

Cais aims to empower positive changes in the lives of people affected by addiction, adverse mental health, unemployment, offending and other life challenges, through a range of services and support delivered by skilled and experienced staff and volunteers.

In response to the current cost of living crisis and in view of the isolation and loneliness many people face particularly during the winter, the volunteer team were inspired to offer a free, warm, safe space along with light lunches and drinks free to all. How this all came about, an existing team of dedicated volunteers have for several years provided a monthly coffee morning and in the winter months soup and cake in the Church Institute to the community of HENLLAN. The aim was for the community to come together and socialise. The volunteers felt they needed to further develop this idea due to the lack of registered warm Space in the surrounding Area. This would give a chance for people to come together to chat, socialise, play games and bring their laptop to work and the free WI-FI, it would offer a warm space where you can enjoy freshly prepared soup, light meals and an endless supply of hot drinks in a friendly atmosphere and all for free. The take up of this provision has exceeded our expectations with a 112 meal provided in the first month of January. It has been heart-warming for the team to take a moment during the busy day to listen to the chatter, to watch as people move around to catch up with friends and neighbours, to see games of dominoes being played and to hear the positive feedback. tithe provision is registered as a Warm Space for all on the local authority warm welcome website and is advertised well on social media. We hope through the Neighbourly Initiative to be able to prepare most of these meals certainly the soups from surplus fresh food available from local supermarkets. We have had financial support from an ancient parochial charity to pay for the heating, and from the Round Table and Community Council to cover other overheads for the institute. We plan to offer this warm Space for the foreseeable future.