West Somerset Food Cupboard Newsletter, July 2023

Dear friends and supporters of the West Somerset Food Cupboard

At the beginning of June, Minehead’s Saturday morning Park Runners generously supported the Food Cupboard by bringing food donations to their run. We were there to gratefully receive the donations and cheer them on! Thank you to Becca Orpin for instigating this, and to all who took part! Since then, St Berthevin FC have linked up with West Somerset Community Sports Centre and West Somerset College to support us by creating a non-perishable food donation point in the reception of the sports centre. Thank you to Andrew Rose for making this happen. If any other local sports clubs would like to do something similar at one of your regular club events, we’d love to hear from you.

Having donation points across the communities of West Somerset is a great help, as the need for food parcels remains high. In June 2023, we and our partner organisations distributed 101 free food parcels of varying sizes depending on the household; a total of 770 so far this year as compared with 563 at this point last year.

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

  • UHT Milk
  • Tinned hot dogs or meatballs
  • Tinned sweetcorn or carrots
  • Tinned cold meat
  • Tinned fruit
  • Hot chocolate
  • Individual cartons of juice
  • Cup-a-soups or Pot Noodles

If you are not sure where you can donate food, there is a map on our website. You can donate at the Parish Church in Alcombe, as well as many local shops and community venues.

We make up food parcels of varying sizes with all the donated food. These parcels are distributed to those in greatest need by a range of local organisations with whom we are pleased to work very closely. This means that recipients don’t just receive food in isolation, but specialist support relevant to their needs at the same time. We want to make sure that everyone knows about this resource in our community so please pass this newsletter on. Please contact if you’d like to know more about giving or receiving food.

The Tuesday Pantry continues to be a hive of activity every week, with fresh food arriving early in the morning from a range of sources. It’s sorted by the morning volunteer team into 40 portions, ready for collection by our members in the afternoon. Each household pays £3.50 and leaves with at least two bags of food. Of course, no-one knows what will be available that day until they arrive. The Pantry has proved to be a very popular resource, so we currently have a waiting list. Use the website link below to see how to apply to join the list. And if your veg patch or allotment is flourishing and you don’t know what to do with all that surplus – please get in touch!

With best wishes from the West Somerset Food Cupboard team


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