M&S Stane Park Colchester

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.

From August 2021, we welcome 32 families who came from Afghanistan after the Taliban problem in Kabul. We work with the local churches and local community groups to support us with donations for newly arrived families. The churches have been very supportive for the mission. St. John the Baptist church at Mt Bures, Hope Community Witham, Castle Methodist church, Fordham church and most of the local community groups in Colchester. We visit the newly arrived families after they got home from the refugee centre, which they provided them with basic items such as: fridge, freeze, washing machine, cooker, sofas and a bed. We are involved with these newly arrived families to provide them with all their needs, like: clothes, shoes, toys for the children, food in a weakly basis, kitchen devices, beddings, gardening tools, hoovers, mirrors and hair driers and we visit them regularly to support them and give them advise for education and NHS and the rest of the rules in UK. We also connected them with families through churches, so they can befriend them rather than being isolated. All of our services to our clients are provided free of charge.

We are not for profit Community Organisation. We support children, families on low income and run sports, wellbeing and mental health classes. The food will be part of our Tea and Chat zone and will help the elderly, families on low income to grab some food and chat in a safe place. We are based in the Centre of Colchester. We are the beat of the town!