2025/26 has been a year of resilience, growth, and real change. As we approach our tenth year as a charity, I look back with enormous pride at what this community has achieved together – and with genuine hope for what comes next.
Demand for our support has continued to grow. More working households, more older residents, and more families facing impossible choices have come through our doors. Behind every statistic is a real person, and it is the privilege of our whole team to be there for them.
This year we supported 688 households, with 12,747 visits to our social supermarket and community coffee shop. We served 943 free meals, distributed 681 crisis food parcels, and collected 56 tonnes of surplus food – saving it from landfill and putting it to far better use. Alongside food, we delivered cooking workshops, family days out, energy support, financial wellbeing sessions, and so much more.
Our volunteers remain the beating heart of everything we do. This year 46 volunteers gave their time and energy, clocking up thousands of hours of support. They gained qualifications, built confidence, found employment, and – in the words of so many of them – found a family.
We were proud to be recognised for our work this year, winning Gold for Eco/Green at both the Poole and Dorset Business Awards, and celebrating volunteer Dan’s win at the CAN Volunteering Awards. We were also delighted to partner with NatWest, Bournemouth University, SNG, and many others who share our belief that people and community come first.
As Erika writes in this report: behind every number is a person, a family, and a moment where dignity, kindness, and hope truly mattered.
Would you like to read more? Please click here for our Poole Waste Not Want Not Annual Report 2025/26