Horsforth Community Pantry opened its doors to its residents in July and now provides food for around 30 families.
The original food bank was based at Lister Hill Baptist Church and was supported by the Trussell Trust, but had to close its doors following the Covid outbreak. After the pandemic was over, Horsforth Ward Councillor, John Garvani, said: “The Trussell Trust didn’t seem particularly bothered about coming back into Horsforth, they didn’t particularly try very hard from what I’ve gathered.”
This new community pantry was inspired following a meeting at Headingley, Horsforth and Ireland Wood Children’s Centre. It was identified that Horsforth residents were being sent to Kirkstall, which Garvani said was: “more inconvenient, especially for those with young children”.
The pantry does not work on the same basis as a food bank, with residents paying a small amount of money but getting roughly four times that amount in goods. This has been an added benefit to the scheme, Garvani said: “If you do need to use it, you’re actually paying for it, so you haven’t got the stigma.”
As a church-based community pantry, Reverend Canon Jonathan Cain, Vicar of St James’ Woodside, said: “We feel that we are making a real difference in the community with some families that are struggling with the cost of living.”
The project is entirely volunteer-run, with the food being supplied by groups such as ‘FareShare’ and supermarkets with excess food. This year, their Harvest collection netted around 80 crates of food for the pantry.
Projects such as community pantries have been serving as a way to reconnect communities as well as provide living essentials to those in need.
Revd Canon Cain said: “I don’t think nations really work well if everything is reliant on the government, I think providing opportunities for people to help each other where they live is just good sense.”
“It builds stronger communities, places are nicer to live because they know their neighbours.”
Garvani acknowledged that: “Horsforth is generally seen as a fairly affluent area but, like a lot of affluent areas, there will be pockets of deprivation that are masked.”
The Horsforth Community Pantry has proved to be a success within its first year of opening and hopes to continue to provide for its residents as effectively as it has already done so.