Lidl Worthing - Downlands Retail Park

Saving food from being wasted and redistributing it free of charge to those who need it in the local community

After several years of working in the local community Storm now has the opportunity to develop an allotment project. For 8 years now we have been gardening in the town centre on various plots of land given to us by the local council - mixing up the planting with flowers and vegetables and brightening up the plots with various knitted items produced by our Make n Munch group. We have also been feeding members of the local rough sleeping and insecurely housed community for the last 6 years - initially running a soup run, laterally offering a hot meal once a week and for the third year running coordinating and hosting one night a week of Worthing's Winter Night Shelter. Since all the changes that Covid brought which meant that voluntary groups are no longer able to run Shelters, we now run a twice weekly food run which is open to anyone in need. We have built a good reputation among the local community and been able to offer opportunities to the people we feed to get involved in some of our other projects - knitting, gardening, litter picking, Recovery Course. Now we have a brilliant opportunity to manage an allotment for Storm. This will enable us to build relationships, offer real opportunities for people to learn skills, be part of a great team and produce food that can then be cooked, eaten and served to others.

We set up during Covid to help with food support and continue through the cost of living crisis where need has increased. We offer foodbank, clothes bank, Toy Library and craft resources. We are currently struggling to keep up with demand for all food types and in particular Frozen/Chilled foods. There are no charges with respect to any food that we receive in. Our redistribution model works by - giving out free donated food to people who access the foodbank, community shop or the MySpace Community Hub. The free food days are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 11am - 2pm. There are deliveries throughout Southwick and Shoreham and Fishersgate for people who cannot get to the Hub for whatever reason. Size of the operation is increasing, with referrals from other organisations that cannot cope themselves. The delivery food is packed according to dietary needs, is checked for freshness, and then where possible there is a mix of vegetables, proteins and carbs according to family size. Most of the time people are accessing the hub also for other services such as housing officer, Citizens Advice, and Mind referrals.