Sainsbury's Ferndown

Creating community resilience is our mission and passion. We support the local and regional community, whether through financial, social or practical means. We believe that a community and a person thrives when connected, supported and cared for. Our support services include: a community larder and food bank, baby, pet, and hygiene bank, benefits and welfare advice service, free community café and stay and play sessions, befriending, shopping for housebound/disabled, a uk first and only medicine bank, and numerous community events for all such as our Easter and Christmas trails. Our wonderful pool of just under 100 dedicated volunteers enable our community to thrive and many friendships and support networks to form.

We are a non-profit food bank centred around Ferndown and West Moors, in Dorset. Our Team of volunteers provide daily food parcels to families in food poverty around the area. We were originally based around Sainsbury's Ferndown store, but over the years and through Neighbourly we have expanded to accept donations from other companies like, Southern Co-op, Aldi, Lidl, and M&S. That said, anyone wishing to donate to the Food Project can give items in arrangement with us, as log as the items can satisfy our food handling policy and can be distributed immediately, as we have no storage facilities. Our Partner stores allow us to access the non-sellable items for redistribution in the food banks, and our volunteers sort and deliver the food straight to the families in need. This partnership has endured over a decade of co-operation, helping families with disabilities as well as low-income households through many a rough time in their lives, for as long as it takes for them to get back on their feet. Families in need are referred to us through various local organisations, from churches to community help groups and we are careful to identify those in real need. We are always on the lookout for more volunteers, Feel free to contact us on our Facebook page or at: ferndownfoodproject@gmail.com for more information!

Ringwood Race Against Time (RACE) formed in 2019, with the aim of bringing people from the Ringwood area together to take actions that help the environment, biodiversity and climate change. We provide opportunities for people to take actions locally to reduce waste, learn new skills and combat climate change. So far we have Encouraged the planting of over 50,000 trees since 2020 (Trees for the Future) Saved over 100 tonnes of food from waste since May 2021 (Ringwood Community Fridge) Saved over 50 duvet covers, 45 sheets and 30 pairs of curtains from waste through our sewing workshops (Make, Do and Mend) Planted 1000s of bulbs and 100s of pollinator friendly plants through (RACE to Green) Started a series of meals together to provide inspiration about vegetables (Pick to Plates) Had a series of opportunities for people to connect with the environment through art Run 4 Ringwood ECO Fairs Run 6 clothes swaps Run 3 spring seed and seedling swaps