Sainsbury's Stanway

Wellies-On Community Interest Company (CIC) is a not for profit Care Farm. We use the everyday running of our mixed livestock farm as a vessel through which we can deliver transferable life skills and resilience, We believe in bringing together care of the land and animals with care of the people for mutual healing. Interactions with animals have been shown to improve health and well-being, especially in terms of mood and socialisation. "We take it for granted that we can go outside when we want to, enjoying fresh air, sunlight, plants and trees – and it generally makes us feel much better, relieving stresses of everyday living. Yet people in hospital, people in care homes and especially those with dementia are all too often not able to do this." - Dementia Services Development Centre. At Wellies-On CIC we have created the idea of the 'flat-pack farm' as an extension to our current provision. Flat-pack farm means that the farm can come to residents in their own home, hospital or residential setting with expert staff bringing along different farmyard animals and running nature based activities. It is not always possible for people to access the farm, through utilising the flat pack farm we are hoping to reach out to more people who are often in greater need of intervention. In addition, we understand that during the colder months, some people may prefer to complete indoor activities. We have animals that have been specifically trained to take part in activities and have been exposed to many situations making them ideal assistants in our work. The animals we are able to take out on visits are a small selection from our farm and include chickens, guinea pigs, dogs, pygmy goats, small Shetland ponies and seasonally lambs, kids, chicks etc. We hope that as a result of our interactions in the residential environments we will be able to gather evidence and opportunities for the residents to be able to progress and where appropriate, venture out of the home / hospital environment and take part in our on farm community and activities. We believe that there is something for everyone to be part of on the farm. The clients that attend Wellies-On CIC care farm get involved in everything from grooming to milking, bedding down the animals to leading them in and out, planting things in the garden & woodland, cooking, sweeping the yard area and everything else in between. Service users work with a team of highly qualified teachers, mental health professionals, trainee occupational therapists and support staff, often in small groups or on a 1 to 1 basis. In all cases they are working towards a better quality of life. Being in a farm environment and taking part in farm based occupations has been shown to provide individuals with multi-sensory stimulation, physical activity, cognitive stimulation, a source of vitamin D, regulation of sleep patterns, and the opportunity to reminisce and share memories from their lives.

- 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/

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.