Tackling hunger

Helping people to tackle hunger is something we take seriously, especially when it comes to the more vulnerable people in society, including young people.

We work with Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership to support a network of food banks, community groceries, community cafés and growing projects and recently worked with the Food Partnership, Acts Trust and Sleaford New Life to run Lincolnshire Food Summit bringing people together from across the network to discuss topical issues such as accessing food.

We also work with FareShare Midlands and support their work in getting regular affordable food to local community food charities.

Unfortunately, there is a high demand for food banks that provide essential services for those facing food poverty. All our food stores act as collection points for their local food bank or community larder. Our collection points will provide details of the local food bank and the items they’re wanting help with – as a guide, donations of items like tinned meat, tinned fruit, cereals, tea & coffee and toiletries are always welcome.

We also run campaigns at different times of the year to try and drive donations.

If you have a few spare pennies, then why not pick up a couple of extra items next time you shop and drop them at the collection point?

If you have any questions then please contact the Community team on 01522 544632 or email community@lincolnshire.coop

Find out how you can support your community and local food bank.

We believe that Breakfast Clubs are an important part of our communities ensuring that local children have access to a healthy breakfast to start their day right.

Breakfast Clubs can help pupils’ social development, concentration in class and help them make healthier food choices. They also provide essential support to working parents and that’s why we’ve been supporting them for many years.

In 2021 you helped us raise over £220,000 through our Community Champions scheme which has enabled us to support over 200 primary school breakfast clubs for the last 3 years, and we’re about to fundraise again in 2024 so we can continue this vital support.

HAF is a government funded programme that provides free holiday clubs for reception to year 11 pupils in receipt of benefits-related free school meals. It’s designed to ensure a high-quality experience for children that will result in receiving healthy and nutritious meals and maintaining a healthy level of physical activity. Children who attend HAF develop a greater understanding of food, nutrition and other health-related issues and have the opportunity to take part in fun and engaging activities.

We work in partnership with Councils in Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire to provide extra funding to enable HAF providers to offer fruit and vegetables and taster activities and we’ve also put some fun healthy activities together for providers to use.

Did you know you can add under 13s to your membership - meaning they can enjoy free fruit in some of the school holidays. Each day under 13s can pop into one of our food stores and collect a FREE Gala apple 🍎 banana 🍌 or orange 🍊 - all they need is a fruitastic card! Just another way we’re trying to ensure that young people can access healthy food, click here to find out more.