The Gleaners Cafe (Cost of Living Support Fund)

The Gleaners community cafe is dedicated to building an inclusive, sustainable, positive social eating space that is accessible and affordable to the whole community. We run a plant-based cafe three days a week serving food at an accessible pay-what-you-can rate. We will never deny anyone food and operate on an economic solidarity model which encourages those in the community who can pay, to support those that can't through our pay-it-forward system. 

As an organisation, we are committed to sustainability and increasing awareness of the negative impacts of food waste on our social and environmental health. One of our features as a space is using exclusively surplus supermarket food or organic food to feed the community, supporting local regenerative horticulture where possible. This means we often get surplus food supplied by local organic community growers and help enrich the links between different members of the community and local projects. 

Alongside the cafe, we regularly offer opportunities for the community to volunteer or get involved in workshops on a variety of topics related to climate change resilience, social issues and cost of living. We also aim to teach our community about the importance of reducing food waste and the socio-ecological benefits of following a plant-based diet. 

We have a very diverse beneficiary which reflects the diversity of the borough. Our customer base is made up of older people, LGBTQIA+ people, young people, ethnic minority groups and those with different abilities and learning support needs. As a community hub, we are primarily supporting folk living in Walthamstow and Leyton.