Argos Dunstable (Inside Sainsbury's)

Foodcycle provides a delicious communal three course meal for people at risk of food poverty and social isolation using surplus food

We provide a safe place to meet new friends, We provide a lunch time meal on Mondays and Wednesdays. We welcome people from all area of the community. We are open 10:30am -1:30pm Monday and Wednesday. We also provide table games, a pool table, and table tennis. All of this is free of charge. We are open to all members of the community and no appointment is needed. We want to be a place where people can find community and be a safe place to chat as well. Service users are routinely asked to participate in anonymous feedback surveys so that we can continue to improve our work and keep uOpen House partners with the Luton Homeless Partnership and is part of their driving group. We also participate in town-wide food provider meetings. We do not currently collect food from any other retailers. All other food has to be purchased with grant funds. p with needs in the community.

Our aim is to To eradicate food poverty in Luton and support people so that they can take steps to overcome the problems that brought them to us. Our principles are to run entirely for the benefit of people in and around Luton who need emergency food. We make no profit and are not be aligned to any faith group. We are non-judgemental. We provide free, nutritionally balanced, and culturally appropriate food to people in hardship or distress who are referred by a network of partner agencies and signposting information to local advice and information services. We promote healthy eating, local opportunities for food growing, the development of a community food, purchasing scheme, co-operative working, social cohesion and the principles of Fair Trade. How it works: 1. Non-perishable food is donated at collection points across the town 2. Volunteers take the food to our warehouse and sort it into boxes which provide enough for one person for up to three days 3. People needing food are given a voucher by front-line professional agencies such as Luton Advice Network, Age Concern, children’s centres, mental health charities, etc 4. These referral agencies also offer immediate advice on dealing with the problems leading to the visit 5. Clients present their vouchers at one of the many distribution points across Luton 6. Professionals from Citizens Advice are on hand to offer further advice 7. We log usage patterns to identify individuals with recurring problems who may need further help