GAIL'S Chelmsford

Building communities and strengthening families

Looprun is a response division and part of an independent social enterprise. This is more than food and is part of a supportive services platform to help people get sustained in their own individual way. With up to 94% success rate and seeing once those receiving free Looprun response bags to returning to stores as shoppers with baskets full. These are the impact stories created when all come together to do good for good. Service users are signposted to Looprun mostly from referrals including professionals in social and healthcare. Looprun provides free non perishables, perishable food, toiletries, and brand new clothing to people facing a temporary challenge. Whatever supermarkets, stores, and retailers can do is turned into a grateful donation to a neighbour in need. This is a response to real people in real-time. No food is banked providing a direct in and out service. We believe if the food is stored then a person in need is not getting any food, hence we provide an instant response and instant impact service. Looprun has access to professional volunteers who carry out a confidential support service to people in need. From homeless shelters, hostels, sheltered housing, care homes, soup kitchens and schools. This is a non voucher, free and confidential service. This means Looprun can reach more people in need with food donations. Anyone that receives a Looprun bag of essential food items is sustained thus creating a loop cycle. All are invited to become part of these sustainable stories in your local community. For further information and gallery access on the impact of Looprun please visit: Website: https://www.looprun-sciv.online/

The objective of the charity is the relief of poverty, both material and emotional in England & Wales and abroad through: the person to person involvement of its voluntary members engaged in befriending and through 'special works' , which are projects established to address specific needs in the local community. We are the branch (known as a Conference) based in Springfield, Chelmsford. We work with families on low income or on benefits and provide regular food parcels, using the food collected from Neighbourly. We also small stock of emergency parcels ready to be delivered to people who are being moved into temporary accommodation, again using food donations collected from stores using the Neighbourly scheme. All food parcels are given free of charge and any surplus food is donated to The Little Free Pantry scheme. Every Christmas and New Year we collect food from supermarkets, with over 200 families provided for last year thanks to a large group of volunteers giving up their time. Some of the food collected this summer will be distributed at our Family Fun Day, for children who will not have a holiday. We work closely with other charities across Chelmsford and share surplus food with them. This means that collected food does not go to waste.