Albrighton

Shifting focus slightly away from Sainsburys, for anyone who may do their shopping elsewhere we also have customer donation boxes at Lidl in Peckham and the M&S by East Dulwich Station. If anyone knows of any other store locations that might be amenable to customer collection box (who don't already have one), please let us know, or if anyone might be up for organising a collection at work, at school, at your place of worship, or any one of a long list of other places in support of Albrighton Community Fridge, and you need some support in organising it, please get in touch. It is a daily struggle to maintain a large enough food supply at the moment, so we are incredibly grateful for all support.

We do in fact take frozen food ... whatever the form, if its food we generally take it!

Hello - sorry to wade into this so late. If anyone is looking to drop off donations to the Community Fridge that runs from Albrighton Community Centre, please feel free to do so any day (seven days a week). The centre open at 9.00am each day and reception is open until at least 5.30 each day. We are very grateful for any donations between these times. As I'm sure everyone can appreciate with food, energy, accommodation, and pretty much everything else costing more and more, the numbers of people that are struggling to support themselves is growing all the time, so we are grateful from whatever people are able to donate. As has been discussed in this thread, we do receive donations from Sainsburys and Marks & Spencer who donate unused food they have left over at the end of each day, and they also have customer donation boxes to allow customers to drop of extra items for us. Locally Co-op, Lidl and Getir also support us, and slightly further afield, Brindisa, and Harrods also provide us with their unsold food. As some of you may be aware, unlike most food banks, Community Fridges provide a lot of short life food. Bread and cakes, as has been spoken about, but also dairy, meat, poultry and fish, as well as fresh fruit and vegetables. We can accept donations of all these foods, on condition that they are within their 'sell by' date, where applicable. Food with an expired 'sell by' date cannot legally be sold, or in our case, given away, because potentially it could be harmful. Best before dates are purely advisory however, so very often food past its best before date is perfectly edible and therefore assuming the food is in reasonable condition can be eaten safely. We are also adding a new string to our bow in the coming week. From 30th April, we will also be rehoming unwanted small electrical goods. They must be clean and in working condition. We will check them over and PAT test them, before rehoming them with people using the Community Fridge, so please dig through your cupboards and have a look what you can find. One final note, we are desperately short of volunteers at the Community Fridge, so please get in touch if you maybe have a little time to help out. Thank you Steve [email protected] w: albrightoncommunityfridge.org i: albrighton_community_fridge_ t: albrightonse22

After a brief recess (brief in the loosest sense) we are pleased to announce Tumble under 5s soft play is returning at Albrighton Centre (SE22 8AH). Sessions will run through the August holiday, each day Monday to Friday, from 10.00am to 1.00pm and from 2.00pm to 5.00pm, and on Saturdays, from 10.00am to 1.00pm. Soft play is an ideal way to help build strength and improve motor skills, coordination, and balance. Immersed in a room filled with soft play structures, children can crawl, climb, jump, slide and roll, learning skills they can easily transfer to day-to-day activities, giving them confidence and understanding of their own physical abilities. Tumble sessions are open only to children under the age of 5 years, accompanied by a parent or carer. Session cost is £4 per child.

We are in urgent need of volunteer drivers to collect donations of surplus foods for the Community Fridge. In particular we need drivers to collect from Harrods around 7.00pm weekdays and various Co-Op supermarkets between 9.00pm and 10.30pm 7 days a week. Drivers are also needed during weekday mornings, particularly Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

Hello Apologies for the (incredibly) late reply - yes carrier bags would be great. Just wanted to thank everyone again for their continued support. The response from the local area has been magnificent. Unfortunately despite the lockdown changes, demand is still incredible high, with those shielding and self isolating being replaced by others experiencing reduced income, or increasingly, no income at all. As every, we breatly appreciate anything anyone can provide - basic stables like rice, pasta, flour and tinned goods particualarly at the moment are very helpful. Best wishes Steve Albrighton Centre

Hello. Monday to Friday generally. We are there from around 9.30-10.00am and there until 6pm Thank you for thinking of us. Best wishes Steve Albrighton Centre

.... the place to relax and chat about anything ....

Hello. Thank you for getting in touch. We would love some extra help. If you are able to, please give me a call at the centre and we can have a chat about things Thank you Steve Albrighton Centre 0207 737 6186

Thank you very much, that?s so kind. Any time between 10.00am and 6.00pm today would be fantastic. Thank you Steve Albrighton Centre

Thought I would dip in at this point as there has been some conversation about Albrighton in this thread. Please, if you do know anyone locally who is in need of food, irrespective of their personal circumstances, we are continuing to offer our walk in Community Fridge service, now open 5 days a week, Monday to Friday from 1pm to 4pm, for those who are able to get to us. For those not able to we are also offering a delivery service. Those signed up for deliveries receive two deliveries per week if required. To help us negotiate the minefield of dietary, cultural, and religious requirements, personal preferences, and cooking arrangements. We make contact on the day of delivery, prior to dispatch to check what items are needed and provide a tailored food box. It is slightly more time consuming to administer, but helps cut waste (and cost) by not sending people foods they would never eat. Food boxes include, toiletries, household cleaning products, personal care products, nappies and baby products, and sanitary products as needed. For those newly accessing the service, we aim to deliver on the day we are contacted, as we appreciate that so many people are in very desperate situations.

Again wanted to thank everyone for their incredible generosity, both local residents and businesses have been so generous over the last week. Thank you to everyone who made it up Dog Kennel Hill to the centre to drop off donations, and to all the people we called round to collect from. Thank you also to local traders, particularly along Lordship Lane who have been kind enough to support our work. Its a difficult time for so many people, so all the more heartening that people can still think of others in such trying times. If anyone is planning to donate good over the next week of so, anything is good, but as ever nappies (especially larger sizes - 6, 6+ and 7) are always much needed, and sanitary products, in addition to any foods you might wish to give. We have had a tremendous response over the last week or so from people who have preferred to make a monetary donation through our JustGiving page [www.justgiving.com] which has been incredible - can't thank you enough. We are yet to finalise any formal funding arrangements with Southwark Council, so the donations we receive mean the world to us and the 2500 people we are feeding each week.

A huge thank you to everyone who has been kind enough to donate to us over the last few days. We have had an incredible response to our appeal. We are however very short of nappies (particularly sizes 3 and 7), wipes, baby care products, and baby food. If anyone is able to donate any of these to Albrighton we would be very grateful, if you can't make it to the centre but would still like to help out our Just Giving page is https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/albrightoncommunitycentre?utm_term=wJNBQw4w3

We have been incredibly fortunate to have received many generous donations but each week, demand still outstrips our supplies of food.

Anyone is welcome to come along to the community fridge. There are no checks on your financial status, or whether you're in receipt of benefits, no referral needed, and no appointment either. There are no geographical boundaries, so no issues if you are from Camberwell, Peckham, Dulwich, or anywhere else We would ask though that if you are supposed to be shielding or self isolating, to protect your own health, or the health of others, you continue to do that and call and speak to us before attending.