What a lovely honour it is to have been awarded the Community Environmental Champion Award at Faringdon Town Council’s community awards. Thanks to everyone who voted and to the Town Council for hosting.
As clichéd as it sounds, this really is an award for everyone who has supported Tribe Zero-Waste as I really wouldn’t be shivering under a gazebo in December, lugging 20L detergent barrels around or constantly seeking ways to reduce waste if it wasn’t for the support of our community.
Back in 2018 I volunteered to set up a monthly food refill pop-up when Jo, from The Wantage Mix, and I both decided we would love a local food refill option. I picked 20 products, grabbed some tubs and scoops and set up a facebook page. Assuming it would be a handful of locals looking to come along.
Before I’d even done my first pop-up I had requests to attend other markets and locations. And our first event at The Mix had queues out the door! Fast forward 4 years and now I now serve the communities of Wolvercote, Oxford city, South Oxfordshire and The Vale with our online shop and deliveries and hopefully even more people in and around Faringdon when we open the bricks and mortar shop.
It really is a community-driven enterprise.I am so excited to be opening our first permanent space in Faringdon because, as these lovely awards demonstrated, we have a fantastic community working to make our town a better place. Which is really what we need if we want to make a positive change.
So huge thanks to everyone who voted and to all our fabulous local communities making our shire so lovely to be a part of.