ALDI BROMSGROVE - BIRMINGHAM RD

- NewStarts prevents homelessness and alleviates poverty by collecting unwanted household goods and donating them free of charge to families/individuals who have been recently rehoused but their new council properties are empty and other than resorting to loan sharks, they have no means of furnishing their properties. - NewStarts provides emergency parcels of food for those in financial crisis. - NewStarts strengthens community cohesion by attracting over 100 local volunteers each year to help deliver the project. Included in our team are the long term unemployed (60% of our volunteers of working age are long term unemployed), ex-offenders, retired and active professionals, those with mental and/or physical health challenges and socially isolated people. - NewStarts reduces social isolation by delivering a 360 digital inclusion project, which: a) provides affordable computers/laptops for local people by recycling unwanted I.T. waste (models range from £35-£90), b) offers free, 1-2-1 training in basic I.T. skills, c) delivers a low-cost, I.T. help-desk for the local community, which is open 5 days per week. - NewStarts improves the local environment by re-using c160 tonnes each year of unwanted household goods, which would otherwise be destined for landfill.

Moving Forward Community Fridge is based at Westlands Community Centre in Droitwich to support the whole of the Droitwich. We have the support of Hubbub and we are working closely with them. We work families predominantly on the Westlands estate and it has become clear that there is a need for support in the area, we have run a number of holiday hunger campaigns during school holidays and during lockdowns. Families have discussed with us that Covid has added pressure to their alrrady difficult financial situations and they are finding it increasing hard to feed their families. We are aware that there is already a Food Bank and Community Pantry in the town and we feel that the addition of our Community Fridge will only enhance the wellbeing and support offered to all families living in Droitwich. We are working with the Food Bank to support those in greatest need.

SUPPORTED ACCOMMODATION St Basils Bromsgrove scheme provides accommodation with 24 hour on-site support to 15 young men and women aged 16-23 who have a local connection and/or care leavers. The accommodation provided comprises of a mixture of studio and one bedroom flats and also has a training kitchen, communal spaces and an ICT room. The surplus donations collected are ambient foods suitable for storing in a communal area. The items are on display for our residents to help themselves. We also use some tinned items from the surplus collections to hand out to residents if they are struggling financially or if their benefits have not been paid. LEARNING, SKILLS AND WORK The majority of the young people we work with are under the age of 21 or extremely vulnerable. We teach young residents life skills such as cooking and budgeting so that when they move on they will be able to live independently and have the confidence to make a success of their lives. Once young people are stable we support them to do job searches, update their CVs and help them access placement or volunteering opportunities in the local area. If you can help provide a paid or unpaid placement to a local young person please get in touch.