Sainsbury's donates to Waste Not Want Not campaign

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A donation to the Telegraph’s Waste Not Want Not campaign has seen volunteers finally able to buy new equipment for the first time.



People behind Coventry Soup Kitchen, which feeds the homeless and vulnerable under the ring road, have been able to buy tables, chairs and five litre hot water flasks.

Sainsbury’s in Courthouse Green put organisers forward for its Community Grant scheme and successfully won £500.

It means city homeless charity Anesis can distribute the huge quantities of food and drink now being donated at the soup kitchen near Millennium Place every Sunday.

Organiser Kervin Julien said before they had to borrow some old church tables.

“This is a fantastic offer. This just reinforces the huge support we’re getting.

“This will also mean we’ll have all our own facilities to put on the soup kitchen and gives us more independence.

“Before if there was a church function on, the tables and chairs may have been needed.

“At present we’re running back and forth to the Transport Museum where staff have been kindly filling up flasks. The five-litre flasks mean we can last the day out there.

“It means we can continue giving this service we so passionately enjoy providing.”

It comes as the campaign has seen volunteer numbers shoot up from just a handful to around 40 regulars; picking up, sorting or serving food.

Coventry Labour Party and Unite the Union recently signed up to the Telegraph’s Waste Not Want Not campaign.

It came after Coventry Market, Charlies Supermarket in Swan Lane, Opus Foods in Foleshill Road and Sainsbury’s in Courthouse Green all signed up.

Kervin added: “The campaign continues to make a fantastic impact, not just on the people we are supporting but also on like-minded businesses and individuals.

“I’ve just been saying to all those people donating: ‘whatever you can give – we can use’.

“We’re still using up everything as quickly as we’re being given it.

“And there’s a tremendous number of people volunteering now.

“We’re also finding families coming forward who need food who didn’t know we existed before.

“This is a time of year when lives can be lost and the need on the streets is getting greater.”

Ryan Allen, Sainsbury’s store manager said: “It’s important that we can do as much as we can to support the local community. We are really pleased to be able to help out.”

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Shoppers help collect £6,000 for Coventry homeless

VOLUNTEERS behind the Telegraph’s Waste Not Want Not campaign have raised more than £6,000 for the homeless with the help of a city supermarket.

Coventry Soup Kitchen, which feeds the vulnerable every Sunday, was the Charity of the Year for Sainsbury’s in Courthouse Green.

In that time regular collections have seen them collect £6,220 – more than any other charity.

“It’s an amazing response from shoppers who see the impact of these donations in their local community,” organiser Kervin Julien said.

“The average for Sainsbury’s Charity of the Year to raise is a couple of thousand pounds.

“Customers are accustomed to us being there and have used it as an opportunity to donate what they would otherwise throw away.”

Anesis, the city charity which organises the soup kitchen, is staging a street party to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The party, under the ring road near Millennium Place, will put on a feast and see up to 12 live artists performing between 2pm to 5.30pm this Sunday.