Lewes Pound’s Donate-a-Drink returns

Lewes Pound and Depot Cinema are relaunching their scheme enabling local food bank users to receive Lewes Pounds to be spent at any business in town that accepts Lewes’ community currency.

It’s been a long wait, but finally the Lewes Pound is able to give out all the Lewes Pounds that accumulated its Donate-A-Drink scheme before the pandemic lockdowns.

The Donate-A-Drink scheme enabled visitors to Depot Cinema, Restaurant, Café and Bar to make a small extra contribution on their drink or meal bill, to be converted to Lewes Pounds to be distributed to users of Lewes food banks.

The current tranche of Lewes Pounds will be going out to people using the three Lewes food banks just before the school summer holidays. This will enable families to plan a treat, whether it is an outing to see a film at Depot, buy some good sausages to go on a barbecue or anything else that the many local businesses that accept the Lewes Pound can provide.

Susan Murray from the Lewes Pound says: “We believe that the Lewes Pound is more than just money. Yes, you can spend it to support local businesses, but we also want to do our bit for social justice in Lewes. That’s why we set up the Donate-a-drink scheme with Depot and we are thrilled it is back supporting our community.”

Taking part at Depot
Even better, the Donate-A-Drink scheme is now back in operation at Depot. To participate, simply ask to donate £3 when you pay with cash at the bar or box office. You can also donate when you use the Hopt app to order food and drink – just search under ‘Bar’ and then ‘Coffee’. It’s a simple gesture that can make a huge difference for people less able to enjoy such small treats.

Carmen Slijpen from Depot adds: “It is wonderful that the Lewes Pound has finally been able to give out envelopes of LP25. We have meanwhile been building stronger links with the foodbanks ourselves by offering free ‘school’ meal vouchers and free film tickets for families in the holidays. The uptake of this is better each time and it is wonderful to finally be able to make our venue more accessible to people with less means than most.”