ALDI MERTHYR TYDFIL

Who we are, where we work from and who we help: We bring together our neighbours at the Ty Gwaunfarren older people’s social housing scheme, Merthyr Tydfil, through our Pantry and by cooking healthy meals in our communal kitchen and eating them together in our communal lounge. We collect surplus food from M&S and Lidl, which we share out amongst our neighbours. We also cook meals most days, including Christmas Day. Most of the residents here live alone so the meals bring us together to eat healthy food together as a community and it helps reduce loneliness and isolation.

We are a community foodshare that also offers store cupboard essentials at discounted prices Based in a ground floor shop in Tredegar town.FREE bakery/fruit and vegetables etc kindly donated from shops/stores. Brick a brac clothes/toys/household items etc are for sale for a nominal fee which is then spent paying rent/electric/ topping up our food supplies

The Pantry runs from our community flat at 47 Twyncarmel every Tuesday. It's open to all our residents in Merthyr (478 properties, 989 people). We post each week on the Twyncarmel Facebook group so people know what we have in stock. We have also created a WhatsApp group for members. We heard demand for a Pantry through our Tenancy Support Officers, who help residents struggling with the cost of living. Many were receiving food parcels from our sister project, Ty Gwaunfarren Lunch Club, during the pandemic, but we knew many more needed help but were too proud to ask. A Pantry is less stigmatised than food parcels and offers more food/less waste than food parcels, as people can choose what they want. Neighbourly surplus food is given away for free. Grants from Neighbourly /Lidl grants and a Welsh Government, via the local Council, help us top up supplies. At the Pantry residents can also access money and housing advice, and recycling equipment, to avoid fines for not recycling properly. Through the Pantry we are connecting with our residents and developing community projects based on their needs /demand, including Multiply - a Levelling Up funded programme, which uses fun activities such as crafts and cooking to helps adults to improve their numeracy skills. We encourage local residents to volunteer with the pantry and build their confidence and work skills. Wales & West Housing, who own the building and whose staff run the project, is a registered charity No 21114R Our local councillors are supportive of this project, one of whom is a WWH resident. This project is in the Cyfarthfa 2 ward, which ranks as the 65th most deprived LSOA in Wales, out of 1,909 in the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation. Our estate is very isolated with only one small shop and no cafe. There are many families from minority groups including Poland, Portugal and Brazil, who have English as a second language, living in Twyncarmel. At our Warm Space people can keep warm, have a hot drink and chat to our Tenancy Support Officers about cost of living worries they are facing. The WWH staff hear many people struggling with loneliness/isolation, both young and old. We are also creating a community garden on a disused site, that was formerly a children's play park. The community will grow fresh vegetables, fruit and herbs here to enjoy the benefits of freshly picked food, the health and mental health benefits of gardening, being outdoors and spending time with others. We need food, household, period/hygiene, baby and pet products for our Pantry please. We would also love any garden products such as seeds, bulbs, plants, broken bags of compost, wood chip and anything else that could be used for our community garden please. The grants and surplus food we receive via Neighbourly will make a real difference to the people here - thank you!