Incredible Surplus networks and partners with many individuals and groups across Birmingham and the West Midlands. June and July have been particularly busy! Here’s a little taste of what we’ve been up to:
Gardeners World
Katie Day – a local garden designer offered us 4 tickets for Gardeners’ World Live at the NEC. Our volunteers enjoyed the show, and Katie’s border “As You Like It” was awarded a Silver Merit!
As we moved a tree to the Old Print Works and an arch to the Trans Cafe for Katie, we also rescued plants destined for the skip thanks to Claire Morrell who won a Platinum award and Best Beautiful Border on her first attempt! Thank you to Katie and Claire, and well done both of you! We hope the plants will all thrive in their new locations.
Priory Tennis and Serena Williams
Thanks to Desmond Jaddoo – who is the founder of Birmingham Empowerment Forum and very active in the campaign for justice for the Windrush scandal, two of our volunteers went to Edgbaston Priory Club for a day and were delighted to see Serena Williams play.
Amadeus at the NEC
20 employees of Amadeus – based at the NEC – came for a whole day to help us get a large donation of waterproof jackets and other clothing ready for distribution.
They enjoyed helping us and will be coming again!
Cook & Eat
Kali Davidson – a senior member of staff at UCB – welcomed some of our volunteers and some from TAWS – to a day to cook and eat together. A wonderful opportunity to use state of the art facilities, supported by a senior lecturer to make a delicious meal. We collect surplus bakery items from UCB on a regular basis.
This is the second year she has given her own time to us as well as access to world class facilities. A fabulous meal and a broadening of knowledge about wonderful resources on our doorstep.
Jewellery Quarter Academy
Staff from Jewellery Quarter Academy picked up random ingredients from Incredible Surplus for 18 pupils to create meals.
It was lovely to see their skills and creativity. Well done to staff for offering practical opportunities to pupils.
Slow Food Birmingham
We work in partnership with Slow Food Birmingham to collect their supplies in our electric van. In return they provide us with some fresh food straight from the farm!
So a big thank you to Slow Food Birmingham shoppers/ supporters for donations to the Good Food Fund that gave fresh organic food which we will share in our communities.
Rubery Schools Community Swap Shop
This brilliant project collects donated uniform to distribute to anyone who needs it.
Great project preventing waste of usable clothing and footwear as well as helping many who can’t afford new items. We do our bit by donating washing powder so all items are lovely and clean and ready to wear.
Litterwatch
We also work with Litterwatch Sandwell to help keep the road by our allotment tidy.
Thank you to all our partners and our wonderful volunteers!
We work with so many partners and organisations across Birmingham and the wider West Midlands. We rescue and redistribute all sorts of surplus, and compost anything we can’t use so nothing is wasted – why not see how your business or organisation could get involved?
incredible surplus 