ALDI HOVE - OLD SHOREHAM RD

The Real Junk Food Project intercepts this perfectly edible food from local businesses and supermarkets before it is thrown away, turning it into healthy meals to serve to the community on a Pay as You Feel basis. The Pay As You Feel concept invites people to exchange not just their money, but ideas, time and creativity for a meal.

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.

Each Friday we open our Food Bank in Portslade Town Hall. We are open from 12.00 -2.00 to those seeking help. We receive food from the Company "Fare Share " who collect surplus food from supermarkets and local companies .This food is handed out to individuals and families in the BN41 Post Code area who have been referred to us by professional agencies. Many of these people are living in poverty, they have mental health and medical issues and their accommodation is far from secure. We pay £10 per week for this delivery service - the food is free. We have been operating out of Portslade Town Hall for three years and the numbers of people being sent to us is rising. We have had as many as 105 people in one week. This puts a strain on our resources and we have to limit the amount of food we hand out. This is not a good situation as it causes distress and genuine panic among our clients. We are constantly looking for other sources of food. Some local Food Banks have given us generous donations of food and our local schools and churches help whenever they can. We are still finding it hard to supply enough protein, fresh fruit , vegetables, bread and milk. In order to ensure they never go away hungry we prepare and serve up to 80 meals each week to those who come to us to collect supplies. Much of this food is donated by a volunteer and is supplemented by a grant of £10 per week from the local healthy neighbour hood fund.We seldom have anything leftover. We have freezers and some cupboard space, so can store all types of food . Surplus fresh food is made into jam, chutney, soup, pasta sauce etc in order to utilize everything. We run workshops with local experts to encourage the clients to learn cookery skills, budgeting. They also have access to training courses and accommodation options. We are more just than a Food Bank to many people.