Maya's Community Support Centre - An Award Winning FREESHOP
In 2025 Maya’s Community Support Centre had 116,272 visits
People left the FREESHOP with items they gave a perceived value of £2,127,902 in 2025
By encouraging and facilitating the re-use of items rather than re-cycle or landfill in 2025 saved 10,236 tonnes of CO2 from going into the atmosphere
Social media plays a big role in uniting the community. With over 7 million impressions on the posts (in 12 months) when items come into the FREESHOP.
The website details the story of the FREESHOP evolving from one rail of clothing outside a community cafe to a 4,000 square foot warehouse having over 100 thousands visits per year.
2022
Clothes Rail
Maya was helping settling Ukrainian families and asking the community to leave items of clothing on a rail outside of her cafe
2023
Shop
Donations were overwhelming the community cafe. Social Media helped spread to the community and a Community Interest Company was formed.
2024
Growth
The Community came forward to support the organisation , registering, inducting and training 200 volunteers to help run the organisation 365 days a year
2025
Warehouse
A National Lottery Grant enabled the charity to sign a five year lease on a 4,000 square foot warehouse.
Awards
Maya’s Community Support Centre is a multi award winning organisation. Awards show the gratitude of the community but also bring positive exposure which can in turn lead to sponsorship and support from local businesses wanting to align themselves with the FREESHOP.
In 2026 FREESHOPS Training Academy was launched with the aim of bringing a FREESHOP to every town in the UK.