ALDI COLCHESTER - STANE RETAIL PK

- Community fridge and food pantry -Cooking clubs -improving well being - The general public/mankind - Provides advocacy/advice/information The Boaz Project operates a community fridge and food pantry from the address: Customs House, Hythe Quay. Colchester. CO2 8JB The Boaz Project has both the Greenstead and Hythe in Colchester for four years, including all through the lockdown and is well known in Colchester. Unfortunately Greenstead falls within the ten percent most deprived communities in the UK and food need a major issue. Individuals and families in difficulty are referred to us from various organizations and professionals and can self-refer. We prioritize getting to know why people need us in the first place, which help us to know how best to support them. We provide support with benefit reviews, we run cooking skills sessions regularly, through our various schemes, such as the Slow cooker club, Wok club etc. These teach people how to shop affordably and make use of food items in their cupboard and or fridge that they will not normally use. We provide befriending practical support and reduce loneliness through our Neighborhood chaplaincy project. All our services and provisions are free of charge to every member of the community who need it. We currently collect surplus food from Fareshare through Foodiverse but recent rapid increase in the number of people needing our support means that we need more food Please see a post to a local press release that demonstrates our organisation's work in the local community: https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/20126851.colchester-boaz-project-community-fridge-free-food/

It is the aim of of Colchester Foodbank to help people, who for various reasons are in crisis and may not have enough money to buy food - we make it possible for them to receive a food parcel. Over 200 agencies in Colchester, including health and care professionals, social agencies, job centre, schools and churches, identify people in crisis and issue a client with a Foodbank voucher, which can be exchanged for a 3 day nutritionally balanced emergency food parcel approximately - 10 meals. We also listen to our clients needs which are often many and varied - we can then try and signpost them to other organisations that can hopefully give additional support in their time of crisis. We are a registered charity.

We have been allowed to use a small building in the centre of the town by a local businessman to house the fridge. The local East of England co-op has funded half the cost of our fridge. A local sign company has made us a banner free of charge. We have all the local supermarkets and cafes on board and we launched on 13 August 2018 Any uneaten or inedible food that we have is taken to a pig farmer who is grateful for the extra food for his pigs.. We are inspected for Hygiene by Braintree District council, and recently satisfactorily completed their Hygiene questionnaire. In January we welcomed a group of year 6 pupils from the local Holy Trinity school to the fridge, in order for them to learn about the fridge and its aim of preventing food waste. This was reported in the local paper. Last spring I gave a talk on the fridge and its work to the local Rotary club and this was much appreciated and resulted in a donation. We are now part of a body of local charities and voluntary organisations in the town who are working more closely together. These include the Rotary, the Mensshed, choirs, dementia friendly organisations, and many others. There is a get together for all these groups on 7/4/25 at the Annual Town meeting, where local residents can discuss what the town needs.