A NETWORK of 121 food pantries is offering more than material sustenance, it reports.
Besides saving members £5.76 million in the past year, the pantries, many of them run by churches, provide places of community and well-being, it says.
The annual social-impact report (News, 21 July 2023) Places of Hope has been compiled by Your Local Pantry, a network of 121 pantries in the UK co-ordinated by the charity Church Action on Poverty.
More than 120,000 people in 44,000 households have become members of Your Local Pantry since the first pantry opened in Stockport in 2013. There are currently 13,000 members, who pay between £3.50 and £7 a week for ten grocery items of their choosing from their local pantry. Items are colour-coded to promote a balanced diet. This choice enhances dignity and agency, the network says.
“Nobody here presumes anything,” one member reports. “Poverty doesn’t really come into it, which is nice. You don’t feel like you are taken in because you can’t afford to feed your family. . . If you go to a foodbank, you get what you are given, and are thankful because you had nothing. Coming here, you can choose what you need or like. It’s non-judgemental.”
The report records 270,000 visits in the past 12 months. It highlights six pantries operating in different contexts: Kingston, Lowestoft, and Birmingham, Ebbw Vale, Leith, and Portadown.
“Many people are dealing with difficult social issues, but there is an inherent, evergreen goodness in people coming together and doing life together, sharing food, skills, ideas, and company,” the report says. “Local pantries soften the blow of high living costs and create the conditions for people to grow and thrive.”
Several pantries are run by churches. Others are independent or in partnerships with housing associations, local authorities, and, more recently, schools: the first is in Winson Green, in Birmingham. Most pantries are either part of a registered chary or are charities in their own right.
“Many have become the heart of the community. We have communities forming within pantries; new friendships, support, care and compassion at the weekly visits,” the report says. “We also hear of the role they play in their wider communities: linking up with other groups, introducing members to new opportunities and support; responding quickly to requests from elsewhere; becoming hubs that connect and strengthen community relationships.”
Rachel Brown, a co-author of the report, says: “Charity can never be a long-term answer to food insecurity. We need a government-driven commitment to ensure everyone can access good food without having to turn to others for help. But everyone also values community and the hope that such community provides, and Pantries are providing that in abundance.”
Members are estimated to save about £21 a week on groceries.
The Rector of St Peter and St John, Kirkley, Lowestoft, the Revd Helen Chandler, describes its Kirkley pantry as “a kind of hope story. We are here to get people out of poverty, and that is the key difference between a foodbank and a pantry. The foodbank can get you food in the moment, but you can’t go for long.”
She sees the pantry as an expression of church. “Unless our faith lands on the ground with people in our community, it is useless.”
Challenges to the initiative include sourcing enough stock (most comes from Fareshare and supermarket donations), ensuring financial stability, and recruiting and retaining volunteers. A pantry is estimated to need 19 volunteers alongside paid staff. Currently, 2000 volunteers dedicate 7000 hours a week to the initiative.
Your Local Pantry is supported by Church Action on Poverty, the Co-op, community groups, and charities.