Dear friends and supporters of the West Somerset Food Cupboard
There are lots of ways to get involved with the Food Cupboard. One team of volunteers that you might not hear so much about are our wonderful trustees who use their skills and experience to oversee, monitor, evaluate and plan for the ongoing work of the charity, whilst ensuring that everything we do is effective, compliant, responsible and represents efficient use of resources. If you’d like to know more about joining this team, please get in touch. Currently we especially need a new treasurer to continue the very well organised work of our current treasurer. If that could be you, we’d love to hear from you.
Following on from March’s training in First Aid and Manual Handling, eleven more members of the Food Cupboard team (staff, trustees and volunteers) completed their level 2 Food Hygiene and Identifying Allergens training, thanks to Somerset Skills and Learning, and trainer Catherine Maxwell.
We recognise that volunteering isn’t possible for everyone, but the contributions that our regular donors make are just as important to us. The need for food support remains at an all-time high, in line with the experience of other food provision charities nationwide, as reported widely on the news. As usual, here is our list of current shortages at the Food Cupboard. Any help with these is very much appreciated. We were very grateful to the recent anonymous donor of multiple bags of oats, and to our friends at Butlins for arranging a food collection there for us.
Any non-perishable food items are gratefully received. This month we would really appreciate:
- Coffee or hot chocolate
- Squash or juice
- Jam or marmalade
- Savoury crackers or crisps
- Individual pots of custard or fruit
- Tinned vegetables
- Tinned cold meat
In April 2023, we and our partner organisations distributed 113 food parcels of varying sizes depending on the household; a total of 570 so far this year as compared with 364 at this point last year. Thank you for your help!
We continue to seek new surplus food sources for the Tuesday Pantry. If you grow your own veg, or your hens lay any extra eggs that you don’t need, we’d love to hear from you. We make good use of any surplus food donations received and share recipe ideas. At the Easter Pantry all members were given an Easter biscuit recipe kit, as well as a delicious little taster to inspire some home baking. Some rose to the challenge!
Finally, if you’d like to support another local community organisation, the Minehead Community Transport Scheme is holding a launch event at the Beach Hotel on 4th May at 6.30pm. For more info: 01984 656489
With best wishes from the West Somerset Food Cupboard team
