Charity No 1178207
The PCE Web site will be updated to the full program again once the pandemic is over.
ContactPoole Community Exchange (PCE) usually supplies food in the form of weekly community meals, served to between 10 and 20 people at the Parkstone United Reformed Church. Our aim is to support people who have been marginalised, are vulnerable or excluded. Though the Coronavirus pandemic has forced us to shut our doors for the time being, we have actually expanded our food provision to meet the growing need. Thanks mainly to FareShare in Southampton, in the first 5 weeks we managed to obtain 1136 trays of surplus food and distribute it to 250 hostels and refuges, plus 453 households, feeding an estimated 3351 people! We have also reached out to local foodbanks and others to help them keep their shelves stocked.
Helping the community during this unprecedented time has required PCE to scale up our operations. We have had to purchase another fridge and 2 freezers, and are using the kitchen, with its commercial refrigeration, our office and a meeting room at our Parkstone URC base, who have allowed us to use their premises for this operation.
Making these changes has been a challenge, but PCE’s staff and volunteers have come together with other local organisations to reach as many people in need as possible. This has been a collaborative effort, with the local Day Centre and Hall and Woodhouse offering their walk-in freezers for storage and Probation Services providing 3 vans and 6 drivers, as well as us being able to use the Lifeworks charity van. We have 16 volunteers, and two local employees being seconded to us, and have clocked up over 1,000 miles delivering and collecting food. We are replacing some of the many other sources of help and food needs across the region, which were from churches and satellite hubs which have closed because of Corvid-19.
We know that there is still work to be done. The needs of the community will only grow larger as long as the pandemic lasts, and we will rise to that challenge because of the dedication of so many organisations and volunteers, as well, of course, to those who have given us grants towards our extra costs. BCP Council have recently selected us as part of the Food Access Group for Poole.
a Poole Community Exchange Video journey and biography...
Our
Web site has had to be adapted for the pandemic, as we have had to not allow
anyone on our Parkstone United Reformed site and buildings. However we have
expanded the assistance we are giving, to distribute food parcels. We have made
arrangements to obtain food at reduced prices and give away free. We expect to
have fed over 1200 vulnerable and marginalised people in the next three months.
Our
original objects are given below, and we will be continuing with these as soon
as the pandemic is over.
For the benefit of the
residents of and visitors to, in particular but not exclusively, the town of
Poole: (1) to promote social inclusion by
preventing people from becoming socially excluded and, by relieving the needs
of those people who are socially excluded and assisting them to integrate into
society; (2) to provide facilities in the
interests of social welfare, for recreation and leisure time occupation, with
the objective of improving conditions of life; without distinction of sex,
sexual orientation, race or of political, religious, or other opinions by
associating together residents, visitors and the local authorities, voluntary
and other organisations;
(3) to promote physical, mental and
spiritual well-being mainly, but not exclusively, by the provision of
chaplaincy services to offer advice and support.
For the purpose of this clause ‘socially excluded’ means being excluded from society, or parts of society as a result of one or more of the following factors: Unemployment; financial hardship; youth or old age; ill health (physical or mental); substance abuse or dependency including drugs and alcohol; discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, ethnic origin, religion, belief, creed, sexual orientation or gender reassignment; poor educational or skills attainment; relationship and family breakdown; homelessness or poor housing (that is housing that does not meet basic habitable standards); crime (either as a victim of crime or as an offender rehabilitating into society).
Parkstone United Reformed Church
Commercial Road
POOLE Charity No 1178207
BH14 0JW
Telephone: (M) 07971 660456
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.