12 Jul Meet Daylight Centre Fellowship
Meet Daylight Centre Fellowship, based in High Street, Wellingborough, North Northamptonshire. This centre is signed up to Zellar, one of the apps provided by the Full Circle project – a Northamptonshire initiative focusing on sustainability and reducing food waste.
The Daylight Centre works with anyone and everyone impacted by homelessness, poverty and/or social exclusion, including those sleeping rough, people suffering from drug or alcohol addiction, those with mental health issues and anyone needing some kind of help or support to deal with life challenges.
The Daylight Centre is proud to state that it wastes very little food. Meals are planned in advance and the centre has a recent initiative at a one-acre allotment in Wollaston, Northamptonshire, where fresh fruit and vegetables are grown by service users,
Carina Fisher, Chief Executive, said: “By joining Full Circle we are hoping to use the Food Loop to link up with other businesses. We are looking for things like ground coffee beans and eggshells – anything we can get our hands on really for the allotment which is brilliant in terms of the health and wellbeing of our service users.
“We believe everyone has the right to have a well-balanced diet and all the food we grow on our allotment will go straight to our Food Bank. We also hope to start selling produce to local restaurants and at all times aim to be environmentally focused with minimal food waste.”
Sustainability is central to the Daylight Centre Fellowship, which aspires to be a ‘sustainable model of excellence by the year 2025.
Plans to achieve this status include:
- Digitalising its shop so the organisation can claim an additional 25 per cent through Gift Aid
- Selling higher value items donated to the charity shop through a new eBay shop
All income generated will go straight back into providing the centre’s core services.
From this summer the centre plans to be selling vegetable boxes locally and running cooking courses (such as jam-making for service users. It is also planning to rent out its office spaces and hire its venue to other organisations.
Carina added: “We want to be self-funding as much as it can.”
More about the Daylight Centre
Four full-time and three part-time staff work at the Centre, supported by a team of 80 volunteers who help run its allotment, kitchen, shop, foodbank and Centre.
Carina Fisher, Chief Executive of, said: “We deal with a vast range of circumstances. It could be someone who has a benefits issue or someone needing support with their mental health issue. We give them advice and support and we also have various specialist services who come into the Centre who can help.
“We link them with the right agencies, locally, to give them support and don’t leave it there but will follow service users through that journey to monitor progress. We often find it’s not one thing someone needs support with, but several things – it’s about working with the whole person and addressing needs holistically.”
As well as a drop-in centre with a café, open every weekday from 10 am to 1 pm, in Wellingborough’s High Street, the Daylight Centre Fellowship has a charity shop a few doors away in Sheep Street and a food bank in Finedon Industrial Estate, which distributes essentials to individuals and families in need.
Carina said: “We work with job centres, schools and housing associations who send us referrals of people who need our support through the food bank. The pandemic and cost of living increases have had a big impact and it’s not just people who are unemployed who are turning to us, but those on low incomes. Between January and April this year we saw another rise of six per cent for foodbank services, including from the newly needy, people who wouldn’t normally know about food banks.
“We’ve seen donations go down, but the demands are getting higher. This is part of the reason why we are committed to supporting this Full Circle project p- so we can link up other food producers in the area who may be able to help.”
Full Circle Project
Daylight Centre Fellowship recently signed up to take part in the Full Circle Project, a Northamptonshire initiative focusing on sustainability and reducing food waste. Funded by the UK Community Renewal Fund, the project is providing farmers, producers, suppliers and food retailers with a trio of online platforms to help them chart their journey to sustainability.
The project will also provide a matchmaking service that will link hospitality businesses with producers and suppliers who have food products that would otherwise go to waste. By taking part in the Full Circle project, Daylight Centre Fellowship hopes to raise awareness locally of the importance of sustainability and the reduction of food waste.
Website: www.daylightcf.org
Tel: 01933 446490