ALDI WELWYN GARDEN CITY

Tonnes of fresh food are thrown away every day by supermarket across the UK. Children go to school hungry every morning, mothers skip meals to feed their family, elderly people and those with mental illness are under nourished. Gratitude collects fresh, nutritious food that cannot be sold by supermarkets. They make this into a scrumptious free lunch every Wednesday and redistribution surplus food to charities and shelters. We also collect non-food item and redistribution the surplus to charities, shelters and those who are in need in the community. We have now been serving for five years and have been helping feed an average of 250 people weekly.

Community led charity with a focus on social cohesion. Providing food aid to 600 people every week, baby items, educational intervention, free sport activities for youth and financial support for disadvantaged families across St Albans, London Colney, Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City. SACP holds a food hygiene rating of 5 at our unit with fridges/freezers/storage space in AL3 6EN. We have 50+ volunteers who between them hold food handling/hygiene certificates and are DBS checked. Food parcels are packed at the unit and delivered to doorsteps where needed or ppl collect from the unit. The service is free of charge and all volunteers are unpaid. We support 600ppl a week with fresh produce boxes. Referrals are made by other local organisations and authorities including schools, health visitors, family/social workers, Refugee Council, St Albans Old People’s Trust, Druglink, Citizen’s Advice Bureau, residents’ associations and more. Read more about our work in the press here: https://www.hertsad.co.uk/news/can-you-help-food-parcels-fundraiser-6903930 https://www.hertsad.co.uk/things-to-do/abbey-theatre-helps-sopwell-foodbank-6913492 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-56029947 We are in particular need of fresh produce including eggs/milk/fruit/vegetables.

Looprun is a response division and part of an independent social enterprise called Glass Mill Social Enterprise C.I.C. There is no charge whatsoever to service users. This is a free and confidential service. Looprun is providing assistance with food, toiletries, baby essentials, brand new clothing and pet food. As all members in the household matters and that includes pets too. This is more than food and Looprun is part of a platform to help people back on their feet called RSBA1 (Response, Sustain, Build, Achieve). We have a 94% success rate in people achieving this. This is how service users are identified. R- Response (Access to free essentials resources) S- Sustainability (Budgeting support) B- Build (Access to over 4,000 free online courses and 11 million career opportunities) We have had over 12,500 people attend our courses. On average this is 500 a month. A- Achieve (Kick starting their vision) Whatever you can do is turned into a grateful donation to a neighbour in need. As everything given and everybody counts. No food is banked providing a direct in and out service. Looprun believes if the food is stored then a person in need is not getting any food, hence we provide an instant response and instant impact service. Looprun food donations can include fresh fruit, vegetables, bakery items and non perishables. Looprun has access to professional volunteers who carry out a confidential support service to people in need. From homeless shelters, hostels, sheltered housing, care homes and schools. This is a non voucher, free and confidential service. This means Looprun can reach more people in need with your food donations. Therefore we need your help to ensure we can supply the demand in this crisis. Anyone that receives a Looprun bag of essential food items is sustained thus creating a loop cycle. We, therefore, are a platform for a voice to be heard in the community and share life changing stories. It would be great to have more partners become part of these stories in your local community. The organisation has been featured in a business advert for Natwest online: https://www.mylondon.news/special-features/new-high-street-hub-islington-24962960 Our social media pages are our platform for the demonstration of the organisations work in the local community. Looprun have recently started in these locations due to the unprecedented times. Looprun keeps the data of service users and those within organisations confidential as part of safeguarding For further information and gallery access on the impact of Looprun please visit: website: www.rsba1.com Instagram page: @rsba_1