Premier Foods

We are a Christian community group based in hackney, East London. We work with people of all faiths to change lives in our local community. We are a volunteer led organisation, "our volunteers" generosity in helping us deliver our services, means we can make a real difference in the lives of people in need of help and support. Volunteers are the backbone of the harvesters soup Kitchen, without them we simply would not be able to deliver our services. Our aim to build impactful relationships and work with individuals to take control of their lives through setting goals and making choices aided by high-quality support to move them towards independent living. The Harvesters’ soup kitchen - Food bank, operates weekly (Saturday’s) to distribute much needed grocery supplies to the less privileged in the community. Our clients are vulnerable and disadvantaged people in the community including homeless and those facing threat of homeless, unemployed and those on low income, asylum seekers etc. We deliver our services in Hackney Borough which remains the second most deprived local authority in England on the Government’s Indices of Multiple Deprivation and all the wards are in the top ten percent the most deprived in the country. There is a high level of unemployment, homelessness, and other social challenges. Unfortunately, this same group of people suffer from poor nutrition, have unaddressed health complications and no safe place to self-isolate from other people due to the type of accommodation available to them and again, they seem to bear the brunt of the impact of the COVID 19 crisis and we are in need of urgent financial support to help to minimize this impact on their lives.

Bradford New Church Community Project originally set up during covid to help the most vulnerable have access to food. Our main aim is to reduce waste going to landfill unnecessarily, making sure those who are hungry are fed and warm whilst we are open, along with offering local people support with isolation, mental health and poverty Available daily is surplus foods, donated clothes, toys, household items, in all cases it’s suggested a donation of 10/20p item or £2/£3 per bag (in a pay as you feel manner) from a bunch of flowers to prams, toys to kettles, microwaves, shoes, coats, wellies etc if it’s in good condition we encourage regift, reuse and upcycle, helping people feel like they are contributing at an affordable amount rather than living on handouts We try promote there is a suggested amount even though it’s very low, we are then able to say it’s donation or free for those who cannot afford it but need it, in turn it limits people taking large amounts not needed, people can also donate more if they choose to and can afford it Volunteers (24 volunteers speaking 8 different languages help on various days) collect from stores at varying times using thermo/cardboard boxes dependant on types of foods given, within an hour all foods sorted into fridges, chest freezer or cupboards dependent on their types/labels, all foods are given out daily, inedible foods are cut up and composted, leftover foods are collected daily by a local farm given as chicken/pig feeds Available daily is, free drinks/toast/cereal/make their own meal using kettle, toaster, microwave or toastie maker provided, all people are welcome to sit/chat for as long as we are open each day no drink or food limits if it’s needed, they can have it Running at present free is Benefit Advice, Family Early Help, Evening Community Meal, Gardening club, Home Ed, BSL signing, Adult craft, Christmas Day dinner, Monthly day trips, Try The Train, Cook n Eat, Playgroup, Toy Appeal Partnership links offering weekly support - MIND, CFT Trust, CAB, Baby Bank, School uniform bank, Foodbank, local schools, Council, Skills House The surplus foods is a link into support, we are not a shop, we are a community group offering a whole host of support to help people feel part of society, offering volunteering/groups to lift people’s wellbeing, letting them show support whichever they can give it, in time; ideas; or money, any is enough There are around 500-700 people attending each month for their own reasons, this has become a valued life line for many people locally, mostly advertised by word of mouth All monies raised go towards costs of running fridges, freezers, heating, tea, coffee, sugar, bread, milk, volunteer travel costs All this starts from being able to offer surplus foods, giving people a reason to build the courage to walk through the door for the first time, leading to making friendships, creating community links, knowing support is available, in a safe, warm and non-judgemental environment

We run a community pantry open to anyone in need of food, it is run on surplus food collections our aim is to feed as many families as we can We run our pantry from a local church/community centre. We run every Monday morning. https://www.facebook.com/share/rYJ6YGmtEDnE1hDD/?mibextid=K35XfP https://www.facebook.com/share/rYJ6YGmtEDnE1hDD/?mibextid=K35XfP We advertise on our facebook page.. see link above and on other local facebook pages as well as the church magazine and word of mouth . We have 580 members and growing all the time . Our pantry users queue from 3 hours before, showing the great need in the community. There is absolutely no charge to come in and fill your basket/bags provided . If anyone wants to leave a small donation then we are very appreciative . We have a church pantry bank account which we bank the donations every week. We manage to buy all our weekly pantry needs from this, such as bags, containers, hygiene gloves, thermometers, temperature charts, pat testing, cleaning stuff and also hire a large commercial bin and emptying service. We don’t have a large amount left as send to our local community farm and for composting at our local allotments. A no profit lunch club is also run by the church and community centre in the next room, the users are brought in by community transport buses, local buses, cars and by foot . This is very important for the elderly and disabled as some dont see anyone week to week. They also enjoy using our pantry We recently were invited to have a table at a question and answer event at another nearby centre. We were amongst other local organisations such as. Local environment groups, renewable energy advice, transport, recycling etc. we found this valuable as got a lot of interesting questions asked which helped us to understand exactly what the locals want. . We also collect donations from fareshare . We have had visits from local MPs, environmental health and have got a 5 star hygiene rating on our door and hold hygiene certificates ourselves . We would like to open on another day with support . Our volunteers are amazing, we have a great team .