Argos Sedgefield (Inside Sainsbury's)

Coxhoe and Area Community Pantry's vision is to ensure everyone in Coxhoe and its it's surrounding villages will have access to good food, and help the environment by alleviating food wastage. Our aim is to offer a service which works for the benefit of our local community and we work with residents, local businesses, partners and stakeholders to offer a fit for purpose volunteer operated food resource centre, sourcing and sharing surplus affordable food with those currently experiencing food insecurities, and enabling everyone involved to help our environment by supporting a reduction in food waste. We open twice a week - Monday mornings 9.30am - 11am and Thursday evenings 5pm - 7pm and offer a varied menu determined each week by the donations we receive. We are not discriminatory or judgemental in any way and understand that families and individuals all have different circumstances which finds them having food insecurities; and so we ask our customers to 'pay as they feel' for the food they chose to take. This is done anonymously, in that customers are given a blank envelope when they come in and are asked to contribute however much they can afford (if anything) for the food they receive into the envelope before placing it in a box with all other envelopes We gratefully accept donations of food from our community members and local businesses to help provide this service. We have a storeroom and electrical equipment to ensure we are able to effectively store our donations in a clean and ordered environment, adhering to food guidelines and with food safety being paramount. We highlight any foods which may contain ingredients which may cause food allergies and measure and record food temperatures for our fresh food, as well as monitoring sell by dates If we were to be successful with our application we would use the grant to support our sustainability i.e. help with running costs for our pantry, and for equipment needed to store and distribute food, and for costs associated with storing the food and operating the pantry twice a week, as well as buying any emergency food as well as any emergency food we would need to help support a customer

The Cornforth Partnership has recognized that many residents in our local community often go without food whether it be because they are old and don't cook a meal for themselves or because they cant afford to due to benefit cuts and sanctions and occasionally poor management. We have seen a increase in demand for our support and services over recent years, due to benefit changes and government cut backs. As the roll out of universal credit starts to hit our communities we anticipate more and more residents becoming reliable on our services and support. One of the ways in which we are supporting our vulnerable residents is by providing opportunities to access food. We have small team of volunteers who support our staff to provide the following opportunities: * weekly luncheon club for the elderly residents, providing residents with a low cost hot meal and opportunity to engage in fun social activities. * Weekly youth clubs sessions with young people and children with access to healthy snacks and food. * Cooking on a budget training programs for families and individuals * Weekly mental health support group with access to healthy snacks and food. * Weekly teen parent support group. We are also a food bank collection and donation point. The Cornforth Partnership believes that no should go without food despite their personal circumstance and will strive to support, children, young people, families and adults to have access to affordable healthy cooked meals, learning opportunities and food parcels.

We are part of the County Durham foodbank. We provide food to those in need in the Spennymoor area. Food is provided via a referral from a support service, three days worth of food is provided per person per family. We provide crisis assistance and refer to support services to enable individuals to recover from their situation. We rely on donations of food and volunteers to distribute the food.