West Somerset Food Cupboard:
An established provider of emergency food in West Somerset
And there’s more…
The West Somerset Food Cupboard has been providing emergency food from the Parish Church of St. Michael the Archangel, Alcombe since 2007.
The current area that we serve includes Alcombe, Minehead, Dunster, Carhampton, Timberscombe, Porlock and everywhere in between.
The food is donated by local people, checked and packed by volunteers, and distributed either by a local agency supporting someone through a particular challenge, or directly by a member of our team.
Four different types of food parcels are prepared each week:
- Family food boxes which are designed to feed a family of four for three days
- Small household/couple food bags
- Food bag for individual with cooking facilities
- Food bag for individual with no cooking facilities (apart from access to hot water)
The food parcels contain a carefully thought out range of non-perishable food items including UHT milk, cereal, pasta, rice, tinned meat and fish, tinned fruit and vegetables, vegetables, sauces, desserts, hot and cold drinks and snacks. In addition, for those living in or near Alcombe, we are able to provide access to fresh fruit and vegetables. On request we can usually accommodate special diets.
As well as the emergency provision of food described above, we run a Local Pantry membership scheme. This was established through a partnership agreement with supermarket surplus charity Fareshare South West and Somerset West and Taunton Council’s Local Pantries initiative. It enables local members, who live within 15 minutes travel time of Alcombe to access fresh, chilled and non-perishable supermarket surplus food that would otherwise have gone to waste at a very minimal cost. Members collect their food at an agreed time each week and can benefit from this arrangement for up to six months.
We support a range of other local food related projects and activities in the area and take an active role in the Minehead and Area Food Resilience Forum as well as other local support forums.
We provide information about and links to and between agencies to ensure that people in difficulty receive the most appropriate support for their needs whilst also having enough food on their shelves.
