Oh, so I'm in the garden.
Yeah, so we went to Lidl's and I was really shocked with the prices.
I thought we might get it cheaper, but Hannah gave me a voucher for Tesco, so...
I'm glad really we didn't pick up the food because I was gonna pick up like 100 pounds worth of food and then for the top up food banks for mums to just come in and take two or three things because we got full...
Because we're lucky enough, because the Trussell Trust know us, they're happy for us to make food bank referrals, you see.
So we make food, but we can do Cardiff, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly and Torfaen.
So we can do all those food bank referrals.
So if you need more than two or three items to get you through the week, like you might come up, you might just buy a teabag, you might just pick up.
As long as you're one of our customers or a donator, we're happy to help you.
But what we're stopping people is people who don't support us in that way, they don't get access to the free stuff.
Because what we were finding was all the haters were coming in, taking all the stuff and then slagging us off.
Well, they're into an animal.
So, if you come in and you like take, I know, a pack of cornflakes, I'd like to start picking up bread as well, but I'll have to double-check with half an IG if I can do that yet.
And I'm not worried about buying bread because when we start the food collections, we'll have bloomin' tons of the stuff.
But say you need a loaf of bread, a pack of cornflakes and a coffee to get you through the week.
You can pick those up, do a bit of shopping while you're up there in the shop, pick up some kids clothes or whatever, pick up a pack of sanitary towels, pick up a pack of math B's, job done.
Yeah, tell all your friends.
But I'm glad that I didn't pick it up today in Lidl's because I was quite disappointed.
Like the nappies, they're crying out for the nappies in the other shops.
You know, there's loads of people desperate for nappies and we've got like sizes.
What did you have up there?
Six plus?
Six?
Sevens?
You've got all the big sizes up there.
What?
Oh, no sixes, sorry.
Right, so, some people have asked for pull-ups as well.
Specifically, I think you're so
neurodiverse children, to be honest, because they fiddled and they were the tabs and they pull them off.
So I think pull-ups are better for them.
So I try and remember that when we do a nappy shop to pick up some pull-ups in those sizes six and above.
But I'm willing to do all today from my own card because obviously these pantries that are charging four pound a bag, and the rest of it, you know, they're picking up all of the free food bank stuff and the tin-on-the-wall stuff.
They're picking all that up for free from the supermarket and then charging you guys for it.
So I'm willing to do under a pound shop today because I think we've got a seven or eight pound voucher off Hanagoras, off Tesco's, to go up to Aberbargoed for the top-up shopping because there's a lot of people going, oh, no, I didn't realize this was in Abba Barg.
I didn't read it.
Now, you know, we've had our signs stolen by the paedophile.
So we're dealing with that, but we are still there.
And it's always been Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 10 till 4, unless we say, oh, we can't open this Tuesday.
But we always put it on Facebook, so check first, because we don't want to waste any fuel and time.
But yeah, if you still want this service, because quite a few people have contacted me today and said, oh, I didn't even realize you were here.
And I've added them.
And they've said, oh, well, can I come up Tuesdays and get a pet food bank?
Yeah, of course you can.
Can I come up?
We're having another delivery on Tuesday.
So I need that lock on, if I'm honest, because I'd rather have fresh in now.
Because we're supported by a lot of other charities, you see.
We're supported by Pauble in Cardiff, their main office, for the sanitary way.
We're supported by the pet food bank service.
There's lots of, you know, trust and trust supporters massively.
That takes the pressure off me because I don't have to have so many tins and bags of rice and the rest of it hanging around the house or wherever to give to people.
Made my life a lot easier with the trust and trust because I can just say, oh, use a food bank voucher, go to any outlet.
And the food bank know that we don't sell it on.
And they know that, you know, we're not in it for the money or anything like that.
I mean, I'm still in the same painting trousers I was in a year ago.
You know, they know we're not on the make.
So the trust and trust is more than happy to let us give out food bank vouchers as we feel necessary.
Um, so we've got lots of other charities supporting us.
There's only a few that don't support us.
And then the waste of space.
If you go down the rabbit hole and see what they're up to and see that all on the make, you'll understand why.
I mean, we did a quarter of a million meals of the Tesco fair share food, the end of day food alone.
We gave out a quarter of a million meals for free.
I mean, you, you work that out.
One quarter of a million meals for free.
But what if I charge four pound for those meals?
What would that be?
A million pound.
Now, you know why they're kicking off.
Because they're all on the make from this food.
Yeah.
We're like, we'll take it, succeed it.
Yeah.
So, you know, we're here to remind people what the word charity is.
You don't have to be a registered charity to be charitable.
And I quite like showing all these registered charities up, if I'm honest.
Because there's a lot of them that don't give out free stuff.
But yeah, they're a charity.
It's like, hello?
You know, what are you doing there?
You're just picking up the free goods and selling them to people.
Yeah, well, it looks like you are.
So yeah, as long as you're a customer or a donator, you know, or one of our main supporters, you can come up.
Tuesday, Wednesdays, Thursdays, 10 to 4.
I'm a bar good.
A lady just said, now I'm from Remney.
Can I go?
Yeah, you can.
We've had people from Bristol come into Riscat.
We've had a family from London that were coming down to visit their family.
And they wanted to come and see us.
They wanted to come and meet us and come in.
And they did shopping with us.
I've got another lady.
I'm sure...
I'm sure she's from Bristol too.
She comes over.
Every time she comes over and she's having to clear out, she keeps all her stuff for us.
I think her daughter lives in Riscat and she brings all her stuff to us.
She's like, no, no, you were the one I want to give it to.
She said, I know that you will either give this to somebody who needs it or somebody will come in and you will just...
It's only running costs.
That's all you're interested in.
And if you make a profit, it goes back into nappies and food.
So, yeah, yeah, anybody can come to the shops.
Okay?
If you want to support us, it's not a problem.
Just turn up at the shops.
We try and keep prices as low as we can.
We're only interested in the running costs.
I mean, very lucky in Aberbargoed that we're not actually paying rent for the next year and a half in Aberbargoed.
So, I mean, you know, this, you need to really take this opportunity like...
But what we find is that these horrible haters, they've got their own main groups and they ban us from posting in there.
Like the Risca group, they've banned us from posting on the Risca Pontymyster site and like totally bargared, have blocked us from posting on there.
And it's like, you know, they've got like 12,000 people and we're like, we've got all these free nappies, all these free things, but they won't let us post it on there for free.
You know, and it's like...
Forget it.
Like we don't need them.
We work my word of mouth anyway.
So, yeah, if you are in need, pop up and see us.
Um, I don't know if I'll be there this week.
I don't risk it.
I don't know, really.
There's a lot of stuff at Aberbargoed, like DVDs and stuff.
And I've been there for ages.
And I've been like, just check them out on the free pile.
I let people take them for free.
I said to them.
So I might come up and have a sort out this week.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I'll have to see what the cameras like in the Risca shop.
Hannah and Demi are our managers on Saturdays and Sundays now.
So Pontypool and Risca will be open Saturdays and Sundays.
Please check the times and check Facebook to make sure they're open.
And they're going to do super sales Sundays.
We're on sale anyway this week because the weather has been awful, haven't it?
But yeah, they're going to do 50% off everything on Sundays.
And they definitely need volunteers to come in.
Because there's always something to do.
There's always like cleaning, tidying up.
The clothes boxes always need folding.
Because once mums have a little rummage through them, they need to be refolded and tidied every two days.
There's loads of stuff to do.
Check the toys are working.
Tons, tons and tons to do.
Especially now that we're picking up with the food bank stuff as well.
Because people are coming up and then we need volunteers to say to them, well what do you need help with?
And if they're like, oh I need a food bank voucher to sort it out for them.
Or I only need a few things.
Top up, pack that up in a bag for them.
Make sure they've got nappies to go away with.
You know, and help them with their shopping.
So there's always loads to do and we're flexible with volunteers.
As long as my key holders are in, which are my managers, then that's all I need to know.
So what I say to my other volunteers is just turn up.
Because I don't need to know really if you're coming in or not.
As long as the key holders are in and the shops are opened.
So if you're like, oh I've got an hour spare now.
Pop in.
There's always something that's falling off an anger that needs to be hung back up.
So yeah, if everybody, if you want me to do a shop at Baba Bargain, you've got a top-up shop in Ponte Pula Gaur.
Let me know if you're interested and I'll get it done.
Hopefully we can get it delivered Tuesday up there.
I can't believe Lidl's was dearer.
And then you can go up there and do your top-up shopping as well for free.
So yeah, give me a shout guys.
