Lidl Teignmouth

Established in April 2008, the Strand Community Trust runs the Strand Centre, which is a safe and friendly community centre and community cafe. The Strand Community Trust aims to serve the people of Dawlish through providing a warm and welcoming space throughout the week, affordable refreshments, and a range of social events and activities. The Strand Centre is a large community centre on the main high street in Dawlish, and so footfall is high and even people who are new to the town quickly come in contact with us. We are a hub for various services and community activities and we have a significant volunteer team, who are engaging and responsive to the needs of our clients. We have a total of 22 volunteers, working for the Centre and in the Inspire Cafe. The Centre regularly supports the immediate needs of homeless and insecurely housed people (meals, hot drinks, warm space, thermal clothing and bedding materials) and a former Social Service worker provides advice on a whole range of issues. We host regular clinics for people who wish to seek support and have volunteers who can assist with claiming benefits and signposting to other agencies. The Strand Centre hosts a food bank with the total number of households or individuals supported by the foodbank increasing year on year (from a total of 20 last year to 30 this year). With the rise in living costs, we expect the numbers to continue and increase further in the coming months. We have 5 homeless or precariously housed individuals currently supported by the food bank every week, and we have seen an increasing number of additional homeless people coming to the Centre for help, compared to last year. The Strand Centre is well known within the community for supporting homeless people, and the homeless community spread the message via word-of-mouth, as well as via referrals from other people and agencies. The Centre hosts a range of community groups, activities and events throughout the week and we engage more than 1000 people annually. We now regularly sell out events on Saturday evenings, such as concerts, discos and themed events (e.g. for Burn's Night, St Patrick's Day), and which typically include a meal. A key driver for us is to make these events as affordable and inclusive as possible and we offer free tickets to those who would otherwise be unable to attend.

Ashburton Community Fridge reduces food waste by making surplus food freely available to all. Volunteers collect and monitor fresh stock from suppliers including supermarkets, shops, wholesalers and growers. We are part of the Ashburton Climate Emergency (ACE) group.

ROC Dawlish pioneers social transformation in partnership with ‘Redeeming Our Communities’ (ROC). ROC (roc.uk.com) is a community engagement charity that fosters collaboration between local people and local organisations for the common good. ROC Dawlish brings local people together in a way that helps build safer, kinder communities. For more information on ROC Dawlish, please contact Mark Jones on 07729998334 (rocdawlish@gmail.com).