Volunteer food redistribution initiative near Peterborough saved 34 tonnes of food from landfill in its first year
The Helping Whittlesey Community Pantry celebrates a busy year of stopping good food from going to waste
An award-winning food distribution initiative in Whittlesey celebrated its first anniversary last week.
The Community Pantry, which is an extension of the Helping Whittlesey charity, used the landmark occasion to announce how much perfectly good food it has stopped from going to landfill.
Since it started in 2023, The Community Pantry has saved an incredible 34.5 tonnes of food and flowers from going to landfill – that’s roughly 2.8 tonnes per month!
Anna Foster, the Chair of Helping Whittlesey, said she has been delighted by the initiative’s effectiveness.
“When we started this, I never dreamed it would take off quite as well as it has,” she shared.
“The community support has been amazing - I love that we can help so many people.”
The pantry is run by a core group of around 20 volunteers in the outbuilding of the Falcon Hotel car park in Whittlesey.
This small army collects surplus food (mostly retail foodstuffs earmarked for landfill) twice a day, seven days a week and then redistributes it back into the community.
The food is free to take, although a minimum suggested donation of £1 is requested to help cover utility costs.
“A huge thank you goes out to my amazing volunteers,” Anna said: “to Colin from the Falcon Hotel for the use of the premises, and to all the local businesses that have supported the initiative.”
The team‘s efforts have had an immediate and telling impact on the local community, so much so that the pantry won Best Community Group Volunteers initiative at the Pride Of Fenland Awards 2024.
The group’s success has galvanised it into offering extended opening times. From now on, The Community Pantry will be open between 1-2pm on Tuesday and Thursdays, 1-1.30pm on Saturdays, and 5-6pm on Sundays.
Anna said that, as well as increasing the opening times, the pantry is also striving to help other local not-for-profit organisations and charities:
“We work closely with other local initiatives, such as Whittlesey and Thorney food banks, and will pass in date food to them when possible, and also take their surplus food if they are unable to use it.”
More information is available at www.helpingwhittlesey.org or Helping Whittlesey Community Pantry Facebook page.