Rooted in Leiston. Supporting East Suffolk Coastal.

A regional community resilience organisation

Project40Seven is operated by Creative Leiston C.I.C. From our base in Leiston we connect practical food support, crisis response, social connection, community growing, reuse and creative opportunities. These services are designed to work together, helping resources and support reach people when and where they are needed.

Our impact in numbers

Latest evidence snapshot: 1–27 October 2026. Figures come from our E.L.V.E.S. (Everyday Local Volunteer Enablement System) operational report covering The Leiston Pantry and Leiston United Church Food Bank. This is a reporting-period snapshot, not an annual total or a claim of unique individuals.

What these numbers mean

Each recorded visit represents a completed service interaction. People-visits count people supported across those visits, including return visits; they are not a count of 599 distinct individuals. The goods and value totals include a documented October rescue-throughput adjustment for partner redistribution and other flows not fully captured by scanned transactions. Retail reference value measures the value of what moved through the network; it is not a calculated saving to households, because payment and contribution data is not yet consistent enough for that claim.

Reliable support, not just one-off visits

The October ELVES report shows that 43 households attended twice, 21 attended three times and 18 attended four or more times. Repeated use matters: food insecurity and tight household budgets rarely disappear after one visit. Our services offer practical continuity for people who need it.

Environmental impact

This October figure uses a documented minimum rescue-throughput floor supported by external FareShare/Phoenix, Foodiverse/Tesco and Aldi collection evidence. The carbon estimate applies a factor of 2.03 kg CO₂e per kg to qualifying rescued stock. It estimates embedded emissions associated with goods prevented from going to waste; it is not a direct measurement of our operational carbon footprint or a claim that all distributed stock would otherwise have been landfilled.

How we measure responsibly

ELVES records completed service activity and qualifying stock movements. Early gaps in transfer and write-off recording mean some activity is not yet captured consistently. We distinguish scanned Shop activity from separately evidenced redistribution and use conservative, documented adjustments rather than guessing missing transactions. Postcode reporting is anonymised at outward-code level; we do not publish household addresses. We will refresh these figures as newer validated reporting becomes available.

The wider work behind the figures

These October ELVES totals cover two food services only. They do not attempt to quantify the whole contribution of Warm Welcome, Uniform Exchange, The Leiston Land Army, creative activities, volunteering or our seasonal programmes. Their value includes reducing isolation, helping household budgets stretch further, creating places to belong, developing skills and making resources last longer.

The Magic of Christmas — a 2025 example

Our 2025 Magic of Christmas programme supported nearly 1,000 local people through Christmas Dinner Packs and shared festive support. Packs asked for a £10 contribution where possible against an average real cost of around £36 per pack. These results are historical programme achievements and are separate from the October 2026 ELVES figures above.

Independent, local and accountable

Creative Leiston C.I.C. is a Community Interest Company, company number 14588288. Project40Seven opened on 1 July 2023 and operates from 47 High Street, Leiston, Suffolk IP16 4EL. We work with volunteers, local partners, funders and neighbouring community organisations to turn resources into practical support.