Dear friends and supporters of the West Somerset Food Cupboard,
We’ve been reflecting on the tragic accident on the A396 and how we can help families struggling due to loss of income because of caring responsibilities or change of home circumstances. We are always here to provide food, support and hope.
The pantry continues to support 40 families each week with a variety of fresh, frozen and ambient food. We are saving approximately 180kg per week of food from going to landfill. We are forever grateful to our local supporters who donate on a weekly basis. These include Alcombe Co-Op, Minehead Lidl, Porlock Allotments, Dunster Allotments, Tivington Farm School, Plowrights Organic, Deane Barton Eggs, Good Vibe Veg, Richard Little Family Butchers and Cats Protection (who donate pet food each week). Our lovely volunteer Linda also cooks once a month and our members can taste a delicious sample and take home a recipe.
Emergency Food Parcels – as well as the Tuesday Pantry sessions, parcels of non-perishable food items are packed by volunteers and distributed to those in need every week, by local support agencies and sometimes by the Food Cupboard team.
We can’t do this without the reliable food donations that you generously support us with. If you are not sure where you can donate food, here is a map.
Your donation is vital. No one chooses to come to a food bank. But people are being pushed deeper into poverty and the food bank is their only hope of having something for tea that day. Unsurprisingly due to the economy, we’ve seen a fall in donations. Any items you can add to our cupboards or financial gifts you feel able to make will make all the difference to meeting the need. Thank-you.
We loved getting out into the local community at Porlock Fayre. Our stand to ‘Guess the Weight of the Emergency Food Bag’ proved irresistible to locals and visitors. Guesses ranged from 5.5kgs to 25kgs. But the winner was Laura with the closest at 11.5kgs who won a hamper, kindly donated by Miles Tea & Coffee and Webbers Minehead.
This Month’s Shortages
If you can help with donations this month these are the items, we are in most need of:
- Squash/Fruit Juice
- Individual juice drinks
- Pot Noodles
- Pasta/Curry Sauce
- Tinned Fish & Meat
- Tinned hot dogs and meatballs
- Tinned Fruit
- Crisps
- Jam/Honey/Marmalade
- Savoury Crackers/Bread sticks/Rice cakes
- Rice Pudding/Custard
- Individual Puddings
- Tinned Tomatoes
- UHT Milk 1 litre
- Rice
- Sugar
- Tinned Potatoes and Instant Mash
