ALDI HIGHBRIDGE

YMCA Dulverton Group offer a range of services and support to the communities we serve in Weston-super-Mare, Bridgwater and West Somerset. Young people are at our core. We believe in young people and we believe in creating transformational communities in which they can truly belong, contribute and thrive. Our services include accommodation, family work and health and well-being. We also have a training and education service in which we provide training and apprenticeship opportunities to the young people and communities that we support. These apprenticeships offer that little bit extra experience needed to complete a CV or to build upon the skills they already have.

Collecting donated foodstuffs and distributing it to local village people from the church rooms every Sunday morning. A donation bucket collects for the Food Bank. We will be having a stall at the local primary school starting after the February half term This is with the permission of the Head of the school. This will be one afternoon per week in the first instance. Last year we had a stall at our local Flower Show and hope to do that this year too. We aim to enable those in need to have access to donated food and also to people who actively dislike waste. Any produce left over is taken to Westfield Cafe in Bridgwater where there is a pop up shop every Monday morning. At present we are open 10.00 to 12.00 every Sunday morning for people to use to pick up donated food, as a warm space and we are doing refreshments in aid of the church.

The emphasis of our voluntary organisation is preventing food waste and helping the environment. We also support individuals and families within the community who are experiencing food poverty and the rising cost of living. We provide practical guidance on how to make the best use of the food supplied, helping people to stretch their resources further. One of our key members, a dedicated advocate for reducing food waste, leads regular demonstrations within the community focused on sustainable cooking and the production of natural cleaning products. All of our volunteers have completed the Food Hygiene Certificate required. Many of our volunteer group are also involved in other Community based Food initiatives. We are operating from Westfield United Reformed Church which holds a Food Hygiene rating of 5 stars. Following on from this, we have started a new initiative to help with cost of living in our town. We are trialling a Pop-Up Shop in Bridgwater. The emphasis is on Eco where we save food from going to landfill. This is run by our group of volunteers and we ask for donations only. As we work closely with the Food Bank, we are advised what is in short supply and what they have run out of. One of our volunteers will then use the donation money to shop for these items and display the receipt on our group page, for transparency. The surplus food from the supermarkets will be used, hence the reason we may need to increase the food collections. In the media pictures below, it shows clearly what we do with the surplus collections. On display is one of our Pop-up shops, where members of the community attend. It's a very sociable friendly event where families are encouraged to help themselves to whatever food they need and leave a small donation £2 for the foodbank. These Monday Pop-Up shops are well attended and appreciated by the public. From the supermarket donations, we were able to help numerous people who struggle with food poverty. One of our group does food demos wherever she can find a space. She gives tuition on how to prevent food waste and how a nutritious meal can be cooked with very little. These demos are becoming increasingly overbooked. That is why we try to collect more surplus from the supermarkets and we are grateful to Aldi, Lidl and Sainsbury's.....and Neighbourly for making this possible. We also share food with Rusty Road 2 Recovery as they are also a 'Not for profit' organisation in Bridgwater. I am adding their Facebook link below. In November/December we were very happy to be linked with the Lidl Toy Donation initiative. The toybox quickly filled up and had to be emptied twice. When the scheme ended on the 14th December we were able to support up to 30 families in the Bridgwater area. Well done Lidl and Neighbourly. 28/1/26) Update: We do not have a specific FB page but you will find us on the Bridgwater and Surrounding Area Community page on FB( weekly videos and photographs)