The Village CIC and Community Fridge

We need your help! The Village (formally known as the Eco Village) in Market Harborough, Leicestershire - a non-profit Community Interest Company set up 4 years ago to support and work with the local community and to promote environmental sustainability - is in need of your donations to help us continue to do great things for our community.

What we do

The Village has a well-used Community Fridge, that since its launch in September 2022 has saved 6.4 tonnes of food from landfill (keep checking updates for the latest figures!). We have a community café with affordable food and 'pay-it-forward' options, plus there is an accessible community garden. We provide a base for the Market Harborough Fixers who are not-for-profit and run a weekly repair café. A community room is available for hire and we provide a space for small ethical and sustainable businesses to sell their products. Alongside all of this, we also run a school outreach programme that has so far reached more than 2,000 local school children.

What we need

Your donations will help us continue to educate children and adults, develop our sustainable initiatives, spread the word about the Community Fridge so everyone benefits, and ensure our café is an affordable and welcoming space for all.

The last 4 years has been challenging. Whilst The Village stayed open for the public during Covid, as it stocked essentials with a short supply-chain, we lost crucial rent from those independent businesses based here who sadly weren't able to ride out the impact of the pandemic. The cost of living crisis has also meant the number of customers and what they're spending has reduced, whilst the cost of our overheads - lighting, heating etc - has risen. We are staffed by volunteers, which has enabled us to continue as long as we have and to keep our prices low in our café, but now we've reached a critical time.

We want to continue what we've started, but need your support to be able to do this.

What your donation means

We don't want to be a community asset that is missed once it's gone.

Please donate what you can as whether the donation is small or large it all makes an important difference. Please also do use us, and tell your friends we're here.

Thank you so much from us all.