St Martin's Garden Primary School are opening a Community Pantry supported by Foodbank to serve the needs of those in the local community. They are seeking funding to enable this to happen in time for the School Summer Holidays. HTCD are partnering with St Phillips and St James and St Luke’s Wellsway to support them in this project to bless those in need.
You will see in Claire Parfitt's message below that the work of feeding the wider community began during lockdown and that the Community Food Pantry are aiming to further expand this service in the future.
A message from Claire Parfitt (Head Teacher)
"St Martin’s Garden Primary School has coordinated and delivered over 1400 food parcels on Fridays to the wider community since March 22nd. This has been made possible because of the generosity of others and a team of volunteers including school staff and staff from Sporting Family Change.
As a socially responsible school with kindness at its heart we are developing a sustainable approach to this ongoing community work. We are currently transforming one of our spaces in school into a Community Food Pantry. Our aim is that the pantry will be open twice a week including on a Saturday. It will provide a range of food items to any members of the Community who may need this support at a small cost.
In less than two weeks we would love this space to be transformed and operational. In order to achieve this we need your help to complete our very own DIY SOS challenge."
Financial donations:
If you would like to donate to this wonderful project, please contact Jane Bradby in the church office office@htcd.church for further details.
Whilst many of the ‘fitting out’ needs have already been met (for example, the school now has a single door fridge and freezer which will cover the short term needs through the Summer) the hope is to increase capacity for the longer term, for which they will require:
1 x Double Door Fridge, 944 Litre (£973.99 excluding VAT - schools can claim VAT back)
1 x Double Fronted Display Freezer, 920 Litre (£1551 excluding VAT - schools can claim VAT back)
Food donations:
At this stage, please continue to give to Foodbank via the supermarket baskets, until such time as the school are set up to receive direct donations of food to the Pantry. We will keep you posted!
Let’s bless their socks off!
Thank you.
Rev. Liza Wortelhock
