Christ Church Food Pantry opened in May 2020 during the height of the Covid pandemic, when access to food was difficult and many people’s incomes were reduced. It was also a time when volunteers were more readily available and funding to support households struggling with food insecurity was flowing. We were delighted to have the support of Your Local Pantry and St Andrew’s Community Network and the agility to diversify our support for local people by setting up the Pantry.

Over three years, the volunteers had served local people with commitment and compassion. Whilst we would have loved to continue there was recognition that running the Pantry was now making demands that were beyond the capacity of Triple C, Christ Church and the volunteers. As volunteer numbers were decreasing, it was getting harder to sustain this level of volunteering. In addition, the supply of surplus food had drastically reduced, and Triple C was needing to work hard to secure funding to supplement Pantry stocks. During the period between April and August 2023, the Pantry needed 980 volunteer hours to run and we spent almost £3,000 purchasing additional food to supplement the stock.

At a charity review meeting in April 2023, the trustees considered whether Triple C could continue to sustain the running of the Your Local Pantry. It was clear that it was not sustainable, and the difficult decision was made to close Pantry and look at new ways to provide for the community.
In time, we met with the volunteers and key stakeholders to explain our decision, we gave notice to members and were reassured that there was alternative food provision locally continuing, and some new – like the New Beginnings Improving Lives (NBIL) who bought a mobile pantry to the car park each Thursday. Other community partners also took up the challenge to set something up and a new pantry has since opened in Ellegreen Community Centre.

During the afternoon of the last session appreciation was expressed to the volunteers, without them the Pantry could never have existed and made such a difference to our community. The Pantry closed its doors for the last time 22nd August 2023.