On a weekly basis, Community Pantry collects over 450kg of food from FareShare partners and donations from local catering and hospitality businesses to share with people, fighting food waste and supporting our local communities. The Community Pantry van is a fully refrigerated ex-supermarket delivery vehicle with built-in frozen storage, enabling the stocking and transportation of a wide selection of fresh and frozen daily staples, including fruit, dairy, meat, vegetables and dry store supplies.
The Pantry is open to the whole community and is not means-tested, enabling anyone who wishes to help reduce food waste and prevent surplus food going to waste to take part, while also contributing to the community. Community Pantry is a non-profit initiative that feeds back into FUN Hub CIC, based in Rotherham, and works tirelessly to deliver community projects such as cookery classes, stay-and-play sessions for new parents and carers, and baby weaning workshops.
The service aims to stop at a variety of local hubs, including community-based centres, libraries and parish halls that support groups throughout the week. Stops are also made at Lime Tree Nurseries, offering parents and carers the opportunity to use the van. New ideas for additional stops are always welcomed to expand the timetable.
The van operates across South Yorkshire from Monday to Thursday, with a full timetable of stops available on the Community Pantry Facebook page. In January alone, over 2,000kg of food was saved from going directly to landfill, with more than 400 people using the Pantry. There are plans to continue improving efficiency and to welcome new interest and customers as the popularity of the mobile Community Pantry grows.
For more information, visit www.funhubactivities.co.uk.