Holcim UK

Kingsmeadow @ Made Forever is a vibrant community wellbeing hub. A registered charity (no 1148905), for over 15 years we have worked with isolated, vulnerable, and disadvantaged families and individuals of all ages, gender, and ethnicity across our community. Our focus is to work with our beneficiaries to help them move forward, to nurture and support them to take control of their lives and maintain that positive journey. Originally working in a small flat on the Kingsmeadow Estate, in March 2018 we were presented with the opportunity to take over the Made Forever youth centre building in Fisher Road. With help from community members, the building was transformed into a fantastic community wellbeing hub in the heart of Kingswood. The hub is now a focal point for the area, providing a variety of wellbeing activities and support services available to all members of community. Alongside a daily programme of wellbeing activities, we run a community garden, refurbishment & recycling workshop, community cafe, food & essential items bank, charity shop and a crisis prevention & personalised support service where people can seek help with the challenges they face. The outdoor sports court, green space, counselling spaces, lounge, indoor sports hall, climbing wall, bouldering room & meeting rooms are used to full capacity to offer a wide range of support techniques. We provide an emotional support platform, where people are able to express emotions confidentially and freely, supported by our trained and experienced staff. We work with people to help them understand and deal with their thoughts and emotions, providing continual encouragement, motivation and mentoring. Practical support sits alongside emotional support. We provide active help and advocacy in areas such as housing, health/wellbeing, welfare, debt, budgeting, managing money, benefits and completing forms. We also provide hot meals and food parcels. Donations of longlife food such as tinned soup and vegetables, dried pasta and rice, tinned meat and fish, teabags, UHT milk, biscuits and cereals, as well as fresh, are in particular high demand at this time. We provide emergency warm clothing and blankets, essential hygiene kits (including shampoo, shower gel, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, toilet roll, menstrual products, hand sanitiser), household products (including washing up liquid, washing powder) and baby care packs including nappies, nappy rash cream, baby wipes, soap and shampoo). We accept donations of food, clothing, household products and items, gardening equipment, arts and crafts materials. All monetary donations go directly towards our wellbeing activities and services for the individuals and families we support. We are enormously grateful for all donations we receive. All gifts have a tremendous impact on our community’s wellbeing, and enable us to continue to provide support and services directly to those in need. Thank you.

Our vision is to grow an abundant Fegg Hayes and surrounding area, growing a community of participants, not recipients. The majority of this work takes place at the Hub@ST6, a community facility opened in 2016, which we run. Many of the activities happening in the Hub are run by us, either alone or in partnership with other organisations and some by other organisations and community groups. The activities we run include parent and toddlers, bingo and lunch clubs, craft sessions, youth activities and holiday activities for children and families. We also host a range of other activities including dance classes, Mums support group and martial arts group. The Hub is used for celebrations like birthday parties and baby showers and we even have the local PCSOs using the building as a base when they are in the community. In an average week we have around 400 people using the Hub. During the pandemic we stepped up to lead the local community support team, where many people from across the area came together to support their community in various ways, including with shopping, dog walking, prescription collection and food parcels.

For public benefit, the prevention or relief of food poverty of people living in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, by operating a community grocery, providing surplus food from supermarkets to individuals and families, to relieve their needs and prevent hunger. Membership of Fare Shop is open to individuals and families in receipt of any state benefit/s. Membership costs £2 per year and entitles members to shop once per week. There is free choice of goods (basic groceries and toiletries) on open shelves and items are priced individually and are low cost. Fare Shop offers healthy and nutritious food. Generous portions of fruit and vegetables are free of charge and highly sought after by customers. On average, members spend £5.25 per shop, purchasing some 28 types of goods whose retail price is approximately £40. Fare Shop purchases some of its goods from the charitable wholesalers FareShare and In Kind Direct. In addition to these, the connections of Fare Shop to supermarkets via Neighbourly are central for its successful operation. Supermarket surplus and customer donations are a key component of Fare Shop's stock. In total, Fare Shop supplies its customers with some 30 tonnes of goods each year. The impact of the surplus food donations is immense. The recent Feeding Britain's customer survey revealed that 92% of our members worry about not having enough food to feed themselves and their families, every week. Many of our members repeatedly express their gratitude for the services of Fare Shop. "If it wasn't for Fare Shop, I wouldn't be able to eat on three days every week." "It means everything to me to be able to have fruit and vegetables which I would be unable to get otherwise."