Sustenance food support

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Sustenance food support

SUSTENANCE food Support is a community kitchen and food support based in St Leonards

25/09/2026

Dear Friends & Supporters of Sustenance
We Need Your Help!
Every week we run a community kitchen on long shared tables and offer a bag of groceries to local people experiencing food poverty. Demand has grown hugely - and we’re running low on a few essentials.

What we’re looking for;

Bags for life
Table mats
Glasses (no w**e or shot glasses)
Teaspoons
Vases

If you have any of these at home and can drop them to Concordia Hall on a Thursday between 9:30am–3pm, we’d be so grateful.
Alternatively, we can arrange collection if that’s easier.

Thank you. Love Sustenance Team 💕

24/09/2026

Thank you to folx farm for donating lots of delicious Organic Summer Squash these past few months. We are mad about pickling so we made the below ‘quick’ fridge pickle last week and served it with our community lunch today!

Summer squash
Ingredients;
1 summer squash ( or pumpkin) ⅜-inch thick slices
500 ml apple c***r vinegar (any vinegar will work)
150g granulated sugar
1(3-inch) cinnamon stick, broken
2 crushed garlic
1 dried red chile
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
2 bay leaves
A few black peppercorns
Step 1
Make the brine: Combine vinegar, sugar, turmeric and all the spices in a 4-quart (or larger) non reactive pot at least 10 inches in diameter. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 3 minutes. Cover pot, turn off heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.�Step 2
Peel the squash and slice crosswise into ⅜-inch thick slices.
Step 3
Bring the brine back to a boil. Add sliced squash and turn off heat. Stir with a wooden spoon to submerge. Leave to steep, covered, until mixture cools.
Step 4
Transfer to jars and refrigerate for at least a day before serving.
Once opened - keep stored in fridge in between consuming.
Enjoy! ❤️

09/09/2026

At Sustenance we are getting increasingly nervous about the forecasted food scarcity this winter, driven by the extreme heat we’ve had this summer/ climate change/Ukraine and Iran war. It’s a worrying picture - especially for people already experiencing food insecurity..and we’re doing everything we can to avoid any food going to waste.

This summer’s historic heatwaves and prolonged droughts are already affecting UK veg at harvest and packing stages, with knock‑on effects expected in grocery prices. So we reached out to 75+ local farms and suppliers to explore every possible option.

And Barcombe Nurseries near Lewes got in touch - offering a monthly, bountiful donation of beautiful produce. An incredibly kind gesture.
We ( Alan Bates ) collected it in our electric van, got it straight into cold storage, Victoria plums, carrots, tomatoes, fresh parsley, pots and much more and it’ll be going out in our grocery bags this Thursday.
Many many thanks to Vic and all the team at Barcombe Nurseries 💚💚🥦🥦🥑🥑

07/09/2026

Love this photo of our morning‑shift volunteers - the powerhouse crew behind 75 beautifully curated shopping bags overflowing with fresh produce, plus a nutritious three‑course meal ready to serve at 1pm. It’s joyful, busy, occasionally a glorious whirlwind… and always deeply rewarding.
If you’d like to join our volunteer team, please email [email protected]
💚💫💚

23/08/2026

Our van was wrapped yesterday by Thomas Design & Graphics Ltd - Automotive Branding and she looks slick, smart, and absolutely brilliant - especially with our newly refreshed logo designed by Emily Sherratt • Brand Designer ✨
This is a really exciting step for Sustenance. Having our own branded vehicle means we can collect more surplus food than ever and get it straight to our kitchen and storage space, where it’s cooked, preserved, or packed into shopping bags or served at our communal lunch. Nothing goes to waste!

There are real costs involved in keeping the van on the road, and we’re incredibly grateful to our wonderful local sponsors BAYTE St Leonards, Dumpsters Max Hutton, ‘Experts in the Art of Decorating’ Limitless Studios St. Leonards , The Crown Hastings and Spell Holistic for helping make this possible. Your support keeps us going, and we’re so grateful on behalf of the local community experiencing food poverty.

If you’d like to explore supporting, sponsoring or volunteering, we’d love to hear from you. [email protected]

Sustenance Team 🥦💚🥑xx

19/08/2026

We run a busy community kitchen at Concordia Hall every Thursday, where we give out around 75 bags of groceries and serve a three‑course meal to local residents experiencing food poverty.
With numbers rising, we’re suddenly short on cutlery - especially forks and teaspoons (though knives and tablespoons are very welcome too!).

If you have any spare at home, we’d be so grateful.
You can drop them off at Concordia Hall, Church Rd, St Leonards TN37 6HB on a Thursday between 9.30am and 12.30pm.

Thank you in advance, Sustenance Team x

11/08/2026

We’re doing everything we can to get fresh, nutritious produce to our members.
Sustenance supports individuals and families experiencing food poverty - people on low incomes, part‑time workers, parents doing their absolute best to keep their heads above water. A weekly Sustenance shopping bag helps them feed themselves and their kids, and gives them the fresh fruit and veg they need to stay healthy.
With today’s worrying headlines : Britain faces the worst food security crisis in decades - we’re more determined than ever.
We’ve contacted growers, suppliers and farmers across East Sussex, and we’re ready to collect surplus produce that would otherwise go to waste.
Thanks to our electric van, we can collect quickly, reliably, and at a time that suits!
If you’re a grower or producer with surplus food, we’d love to hear from you. 🥦🍒❤️

Thanks for your support so far

31/07/2026

This is honestly our favourite time of year ☀️🌟
The last two weeks of July have brought the most amazing variety of fresh, seasonal produce - squashes, courgettes, cucumbers, lots of salad, herbs, and new potatoes. Our members absolutely love it.
Seasonal veg isn’t just delicious - it’s packed with nutritional goodness. Courgettes and cucumbers help with hydration, squashes are full of fibre and vitamin A, new potatoes give a great boost of energy and vitamin C. Spring Onions basically support immune function and help with cardiovascular issues too…
It’s exactly the kind of food that helps people stay well.
But with the rising cost of living - and fruit and veg prices climbing - people experiencing food poverty often struggle to afford enough fresh produce.
Thanks to folx farm Sussex Fruits Stonelynk Organics Basil’s Fungi Farm and FareShare Sussex and Surrey | Food Waste Charity for helping us get fresh, healthy produce to people who need it most. ❤️

30/07/2026

Throughout July The Crown Hastings in Old Town, hosted a special open call art exhib in support of Sustenance, and we’re chuffed to say it raised £1,800!! 👏🎉🍾🥳
Featuring work by a big cross section of gifted local artists on the theme of Food, Sharing and Community, the exhibition celebrated the way food brings people together and strengthens neighbourhood connections.
Every penny raised will go straight to supporting our work providing meals, food bags and practical help for people experiencing food insecurity.

Huge thanks to drinks sponsors ARB w**es, Kombucha Batam The Hastings Project Brewery and Libertyw**es.co.uk for supporting our opening and closing events.

And of course, a massive thank you to all the local artists who donated their work, and to everyone who bought a piece. Thankyou to Tess and Andrew for being so supportive of Sustenance! Love, love, love ❤️

Artwork featured Eve Jordan

23/07/2026

This week on our surplus‑food rounds we hit the egg jackpot 🥚✨Local supermarkets gave us dozens of eggs - each box had one cracked egg, but the other 11 were absolutely perfect. No way were we letting all that go to waste!
So we got to work: carefully reboxed them into half‑dozens (thanks to our brilliant volunteers who’ve been saving boxes for weeks!) and added proper use‑by labels. Every single egg saved. Zero waste. Very happy members. 🐔🥚💕

Address

Concordia Hall, Church Road ( Only On Thursdays)
Hastings
TN376HR

Opening Hours

1pm - 3pm

Website

http://www.sustenance.org.uk/

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