Neo Community is a charity founded in 2013 that provides food and much needed products to families in need. Situated on the Wirral, they’ve helped 48,579 families alone this year.
All the services provided run on a ‘pay-as-you-feel’ basis, that includes a café where people can relax and meet with friends and mini shops that also operate within schools.
They have the support of big supermarkets like Tesco, Aldi, and the charity Fareshare who donate food that would have otherwise been thrown away. In 2019, Sainsbury’s donated 150 turkeys for Neo Community’s Christmas hampers- now, in 2022, Neo are sending off over 2,500 hampers to families in need.
Where Neo Community are now and how you can help
As it stands, Neo Community has 30 staff and a 300 square foot warehouse to store all the products ready for distribution. Around the Christmas season, the staff at Neo Community become Santa’s Little Helpers- they have a gift-wrapping station where all the toys and presents from the toy drive are bundled up for children of all ages. There is a big appeal for more high school-age-appropriate gifts as they’re often the age group that gets overlooked. If you’d like to get involved, you can register here.
The mini-Neo shops that operate in schools are a great way to destigmatise the idea of ‘food banks’. Teachers and students alike are encouraged to use the shop in order to normalise paying for lower priced products.
That isn’t the only way Neo Community supports school children- this summer, they looked after 60 children for 6 weeks during the holidays. The days include free breakfast, lunch and snacks as part of the Feeding Britain project. They also run activity days, picnics, and residential trips to help keep the kids entertained.
GovData Partnership
GovData are proud to be in partnership with Neo Community who, in 2021, were recognised and awarded the incredibly prestigious Queens Award for Voluntary Service. The award is the highest honour a voluntary group can receive and acknowledges the tireless efforts of the wonderful Neo volunteers.
Our CEO and COO, Chris and Kelly Hugo, discovered Neo Community in a segment on Sky News and decided to drop in for a visit. They were so impressed with the important work done by Neo Community that in May 2019, Chris and Kelly announced at the Neo Community Charity Launch that GovData would contribute an incredible £1,500 a month to sponsor the salary of a member of the team. To date, GovData have donated an astonishing £18,000 to Neo Community.
Chris and Kelly Hugo said:
“Neo Community is nothing short of incredible. A true centre of strength for those most in need of food, clothing, shelter, personal development, support, guidance and most importantly friendship and hope; for a better future for so many thousands of people.”
We look forward to supporting Neo with their future projects and hope that you will too! View Neo Community’s website here to see for yourself the amazing work they undertake.
If you’d like to read about more about the charities GovData supports, view our insights page here.