Lidl Kendal

Waste into Wellbeing (WIW), is a volunteer led project in the heart of Kendal. We’re creating a vibrant and resilient community by bringing people together around good food. Surplus food collected from local supermarkets, shops and eateries which would otherwise be wasted is served as delicious meals in Kendal People’s Café or shared with others through the community larder. We also host a Kendal Community Kitchen, offering training opportunities and social events. Our community and children's cookalongs are all about coming together to share skills, knowledge and good food. Inspiring our community to cook and eat healthier and consider their impact on the planet. As well as these popular events which are open to all, our kitchen is used to enable learning and work experience opportunities for young people and vulnerable adults. Hosted by community-based charity, South Lakes Action on Climate Change towards transition (SLACCtt), WIW is delivering an important environmental impact by providing a solution to reduce food waste, a significant contributor to Green House Gas emissions through landfill. Our Ambition     We aim to respond to climate change and the recommendations of the Kendal Climate Jury, by diverting surplus and waste food In the Kendal area from landfill. Through this, we aim to build social cohesion and improve well-being in Kendal and surrounding areas through the provision of, and education on, good food. We do this by: 1. Operating in a way that helps develop an inclusive, social community around food: providing a welcoming place to eat and enjoy tasty, healthy food, made from the surplus we collect. 2. Offering a community larder to redistribute our collected food to our community, open to all. 3 Reducing food poverty in Kendal by the provision of the above, helping to improve the quality of life, resilience and life chances of our customers and volunteers. 4.Developing an appreciation of good nutrition through education on healthy food, through our outreach programmes with our customers and other community partners. 5. Ensuring our food community is open to all, inclusive and welcoming, by providing a ‘pay as you can model’ while still ensuring our own financial resilience and sustainability.

We are a food share that rescues surplus food from landfill we also use grants to buy food for those in need, we work with other organisations who do the same so we can reach as many people as possible. We have saved tons of food from landfill and do other events like giving out 950 trees every year to help support the environment We are award winning with awards ranging for South Cumbria Unsung Hero and Diverse Cumbria Public Sector Champion to other local awards We have operated during COVID and continue to do so, we even provided a delivery service for those who are really vulnerable

'Parr Street Feeds People' operates from our church building at Parr St, Kendal LA9 7DH, where we have a designated area on the ground floor with display chiller, freezer and shelving for bakery items, fruit and vegetables. Referrals come from our church family – local people, on low incomes, and in genuine need... from our church leaders when they become aware of poverty and genuine need... people linked to our local 'Christians Against Poverty' (CAP). We donate food through a Ukrainian Charity supporting local immigrant families. We have referrals from schools who know of our work. We deliver suitable food daily to a local hostel for homeless people – this began after learning of their significant needs soon after we started working with 'Neighbourly' many years ago. We deliver any remaining food items daily to local charities including 'Waste into Wellbeing' food larder and cafe; 'Manna House' which supports homeless and vulnerable adults; and very occasionally to our local food bank as it only accepts tinned and dried food etc. In addition to Sunday and small group meetings – Parr Street Church has many projects including... A weekly Toddler Group; A fortnightly drop-in for older people called 'Oasis'; A monthly service in a local Care Home; A monthly 'Friday Night Club' for primary school aged children along with their parents; Weekly Youth events for teenagers; And with other Bay area churches... we partner with a summer camp for teenage children. Parr Street Feeds People does not charge for any food we distribute. In addition to our daily collections of surplus food from M&S Kendal, we also collect one day a week from ALDI and LIDL (Kendal stores) – and we are on standby for Sainsbury’s –especially at Christmas. Also B&Q Kendal occasionally offers Parr Street Feeds People non-food items. We have not yet taken up any of their very few offers.