FAIR Frome, which delivers hands-on projects to alleviate poverty, is looking for support from local individuals or businesses for its community pantry to make the service sustainable.
This could be in the form of excess fresh food from allotments or in date food products from catering companies and food producers.
The Community Pantry is Fair Frome’s latest project that started in June last year and supports those experiencing food insecurity by providing sustainable and affordable food with dignity to those accessing their services.
Other projects the charity delivers include the food bank, furniture bank, Food at 5 community meals, school holiday lunches, baby basics bank and monthly family Sunday lunches.
Fair Frome Community Pantry runs out of the Fair Frome Elliot building at the Frome Town Hall once a week on a Tuesday. This is a membership-only service, with members signing up to access support for six months.
“Unlike the food bank, in which people must get a referral to access the service, households are able to complete the registration themselves,” says Fair Frome’s senior coordinator, Lenka Grimes. “The low-cost membership of just £3 or £5 a week allows members to choose how much they can spend each week, giving people flexibility and choice.”
Fair Frome assistant coordinator Rebecca Harrison, who leads the project, added, “We recently celebrated our first six months of the community pantry and have helped 56 families and individuals during that time; that’s 150 Frome residents per week. As well as providing food for members, we have also been able to offer wrap-around signposting to other services to address individual needs.
“The Mendip Credit Union’s Volunteer Anne Hills has been on site to support grant applications and we now have a dedicated support worker from Purple Elephant Family Support to provide activities and support for families.
“This project aims to support people who are currently struggling in our community with a sustainable and longer-term solution. Fair Frome has seen an increase in the number of people who are accessing our services because of the cost-of-living crisis and the current economic climate.”
Fair Frome welcomes new applications at any time and looks forward to meeting new members.
To offer support or to sign up for the Fair Frome Community Pantry or to find out more about the project, go to www.fairfrome.org/our-services/communitypantry/ or alternatively email the team at pantry@fairfrome.org
