M&S Salisbury

A community pantry and warm space offering everyone food at a subsidised price to help with the cost of living crisis everyone is currently facing. Along with helping reduce waste and providing a community hub where people can chat, eat , keep warm, play games or just sit and enjoy the vibe. We also offer debt support, benefit application support, inclusion officers and woman’s refuge regularly visit and we have connection and a referral service with the food bank, social workers and support workers. We charge a small fee which is £4.50-£6.00 a week to use our community pantry this is approximately an 80% reduction of what the items they receive would cost in a supermarket. We work on a point system so if you spend £4.50 you’re entitled to 10 points if you spend £6.00 you’re entitled to 15 points. Each item we offer is of a point value and then shoppers can shop as they please to spend those points they aren’t able to go over these points per household per week. We also run a cafe and warm space alongside our pantry which offers free hot food and drinks, games or a chat whilst you’re there. We are passionate about reducing food waste and the community so we felt this works for everyone we are seeing a rise is need and currently have around 1000 people registered with us. We don’t have a criteria to be met as everyone is struggling and again it divides communities so this project is open to all. we want to support all we can. We open Tuesday evenings, Wednesday 9am-12.30pm and Fridays 3.30-6.30pm just so working families can also access the pantry and we feel it’s been very successful. We offer hot meals on a Wednesday and Friday. We also offer a lot of free items which anyone can help themselves too this usually is fresh fruit and veg, bread and flowers but all sorts of items from donations we have received. We also do meal plan ideas to give people inspiration of what to cook with their shop and how they can make their money stretch if they really think about what they’re spending their points on. This has been a huge success and given people ideas and been able to feed their families more meals following our meal plans to gain the most out of their shop.

River Bourne Community Farm was established in 2010 as a working farm for the whole community to enjoy. It is FREE to visit and has many animals to see and a cosy cafe and farm shop. Education and volunteering are the main focuses of the farm. Small groups of Primary and Secondary pupils come to the farm to learn about animal care and working on a farm. Many of them have additional needs such as autism and working outdoors is very beneficial to them. We generally have around 80 to 100 volunteers to help us on the farm doing everything from egg collecting, animal feeding, general maintenance, working the shop, helping at events and anything else we need! We couldnt do it without them! The farm holds events throughout the year for the community to enjoy, including our popular music event Live@TheFarm. See our website for more information about events.

This local food project has grown out of the response set up to food poverty during the pandemic. During 2020 the communities team from Salisbury City Council, along with volunteers, began delivering food parcels. This grew into an online shopping service run out of the City Community Centres. It became clear that this source of support needed to continue, and expand, so in April 2021 the project reopened in a City Centre shop and is part of the Your Local Panty franchise run by Church Action on Poverty. The shop is a membership scheme for people living in Salisbury City, who are struggling to balance the demands on their household income, leading to difficult decisions between paying essential bills and buying food. Members can shop at the Salisbury Pantry for £5 and select a range of foods averaging £25 to £35 in value. Surplus food is sourced from local retailers and via Fareshare. The shop itself is in its infancy and the team has hopes to expand the provision from one day a week to two and to respond to the clearly visible need as much as is possible.