West Somerset Food Cupboard Newsletter, December 2022

Dear friends and supporters of the West Somerset Food Cupboard

Christmas is coming, ready or not!

We are very grateful for all the donations of Christmas food items over the past few weeks. If there are any more, it would be really helpful to have them by Monday 5th December please, as our equivalents to Santa’s elves will be sorting and packing them ready for distribution by the end of next week. We do this early in December so that it can make as helpful an impact as possible on a household budget in the expensive lead up to Christmas.

Of course, the normal distribution of emergency food parcels continues and because of the Christmas food donations we are running low on quite a few basic items. If you are in a position to help, the list is here: 

Throughout November, 133 Emergency Food parcels were distributed across the local community; a significant rise compared with previous months this year. The total so far in 2022 is 1109. We want to make sure that those who find themselves struggling at this difficult time feel no shame about asking for help and know exactly how to find us, so we’d love you to help us join the dots by passing on our contact details. 

The Local Pantry continues to welcome 30 member households every Tuesday afternoon and is always bustling with chat, recipe sharing and often an abundance of one random item – this week, spring onions! We try to share creative recipe ideas as often as we can on our Facebook page. Feel free to join in the conversation on there, and/or follow us on Instagram. As well as the obvious financial and health benefits of low-cost fresh food, and the community benefits of getting together to taste and talk about food, in its first six months of operation the Minehead Area Local Pantry has prevented more than 3 tonnes of food from being wasted. As a team we are trying to make a positive impact not just on our local community, but on our environment too, and are pleased to be a Community Ally for Plastic Free Minehead. 

A big Christmas thank you to all who have supported the work of the Food Cupboard throughout this year by donating food, funds or time, by working with us from your organisation, or simply by spreading the word in your community. And a special shout out to our seven trustees who diligently, in the background, commit their time, skills, energy and great care to ensuring that the charity is addressing local need safely, strategically, sustainably and with compassion.

With Happy Christmas wishes from Ali, Mike and the West Somerset Food Cupboard team

Any non-perishable food items are gratefully received. This month we would really appreciate:

  • Small jars coffee
  • Hot chocolate
  • Small bottles squash
  • Savoury biscuits
  • Crisps
  • Rice
  • Tinned cold meat

From Ali, Mike and the West Somerset Food Cupboard team


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