Wirral Life January 2020 | Page 23

W L COMMUNITY SPIRIT IS THE HEART OF THE LAURIES The Lauries Business Centre in Birkenhead has recently seen its bistro taken over by community group Neo Community. Founded in 2013, Neo has grown in size and launched several successful campaigns through the determination and passion from its directors and team members. Through growing links with other community groups, Neo began to offer surplus food to members of the public, through the first of Neo’s community food markets. Since the beginning, Neo has run and supported hundreds of events across Wirral and has become a well-known provider of support across many communities. Neo, who opened the bistro in mid-October are using the facilities to provide low-cost high-quality breakfast, lunch and event catering to the people of Wirral. All of the profits go to supporting Neo’s campaigns such as their Christmas Hamper Appeal which helps give local families the Christmas they deserve. Paula Basnett, CEO, Wirral Chamber of Commerce said: “While we run three separate buildings across Wirral, The Lauries really is the building of local community, the businesses that are based within the building all give back to the local area.” Paula added, “Neo Community have done some fantastic work in the area, so welcoming them to the building was an easy decision for ourselves, we need to support our local community groups and projects.” Ema Wilkes, Chief Executive Officer at Neo Community said: “Being able to call The Lauries our new home, was the next step Neo needed to take and it allows us to give even more back to the community” Ema added, “Neo has developed excellent relationships with a number of supermarkets, food manufacturers and food outlets. We now intercept food from organisations such as Marks and Spencer, Costco and Nando's to name but a few. Food insecurity is a major issue for many people in our local community, the surplus food we receive is used to feed our local community.” To find out more about the space that is available at The Lauries or any of our other buildings please contact John on 0151 650 6940. wirrallife.com 23