FoodShare Pantry supports record numbers
The Llantwit Major FoodShare Pantry, run by Glamorgan Voluntary Services (GVS) in partnership with Vale of Glamorgan Council and Public Health Wales, has supported more members of our community than ever before this winter, even though a second pantry in neighbouring St Athan opened earlier last year. The project has grown and developed considerably since it’s humble beginnings in 2017, which consisted simply of a table of end of day supermarket surplus, available free to the community in the fight against food waste. Today a team of around 30 volunteers support between 80 and 100 households each week to access fresh food, including chilled and frozen items, as well as toiletries, at a fraction of the RRP.
Nicola Osgood, Project Lead, said, ‘There is still a significant amount of ‘surplus food’ that would be hugely damaging to our environment if we weren’t able to use it, and there are many members of our community who would really struggle to access enough affordable, good food without the pantry. We are really proud to be working in this space but it’s certainly concerning that there is still so much surplus food and so many people who rely on it - the project evidences our unsustainable culture at the moment.’
GVS works closely with Food Vale and the local Llantwit Major Climate Conversations Group amongst others, continuing efforts to bring about sustainable change for the future. Food education is seen as a core part of this and last summer FoodShare partnered with Slade Organic Farm to deliver a farm-to-fork workshop to pantry customers, and the charity has also developed a recipe folder, providing seasonal recipe cards that use frequent pantry ingredients to empower their customers to cook from scratch.
The project has received additional funding through the winter months from the Welsh Government through the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s Direct Food Support Grant and Improved Access to Food Grant. This has been invaluable in enabling the charity to purchase extra food, including stock to provide 97 households with Christmas hampers, but Nicola added, ‘There is concern over how we can continue to meet this demand long term if we don’t see things ease after winter or secure more long term funding.’.
The FoodShare Pantry in Llantwit Major operates from GVS’s CF61 Centre every Thursday between 12 noon and 2pm and at The Gathering Place in St Athan every other Wednesday from 11.30am - 1pm. For £5 customers are able to choose a selection of items, including chilled, frozen, ambient and fresh produce as well as bakery items. The project is run by Glamorgan Voluntary Services and works to improve access to affordable good food in rural communities, whilst helping to prevent food waste.
