The Community Basket CIC (TCB) is a volunteer led Social Enterprise set up with the aim of alleviating poverty in North Liverpool (L4 and L5) through the provision of food and household items for free or discount prices. Our mission is to reduce food and hygiene poverty among low income families. TCB was named for the baskets of surplus food from a local food pantry that were at risk of going to waste, which from 2020 the founder began to place in her front garden for local residents to help themselves. Over time relationships with local suppliers have developed allowing the basket to provide a range of fresh food, bread, dairy and vegetables as well as hygiene staples. At present around 100kg/week of food and household essentials are redistributed via our community shop each week, meaning around 5 Tonnes of food per year that would other be wasted is making its way to the most disadvantaged in the community. Around 40 households access the shop each week, from regular customers with multiple complex challenges to people facing occasional financial stresses. The ethos of TCB is to reduce stigma for struggling families and community members by creating a community food project that everyone can access, that doesn’t make people justify their need. As a result, access to the Basket is not means tested or restricted to particular groups. Unlike food banks requiring vouchers and with limits to how many times they can be accessed, anyone who feels they will benefit from free or discounted food can access TCB, helping to address long-term and deep-rooted issues of hunger, malnutrition and ill health which help maintain cycles of disadvantage and poverty.

In April 2024, we finally secured our own site to develop the project, the old allotment site in Stanley Park, which we secured on an indefinite lease from the Council, to develop not just our community shop but a food growing hub to benefit the whole community, now supported by Groundworks.