Sainsbury's Staplehurst

Nourish is a registered charity operating in Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding areas. We work with frontline agencies to determine the need and validity of each referral in order to supply short-term emergency food and supplies to those in crisis. People are referred to Nourish for a wide variety of reasons such as problems with benefits, domestic violence, low/delayed wages, debt and homelessness. In 2015-2016, 3,141 people in crisis in Tunbridge Wells and surrounding areas were provided with three days' emergency food, 43% of whom were under 18. This was an increase of 34% YoY from 2014-2015 and we have again seen increased demand in 2016-2017 We work from our base at Big Yellow Self Storage in Tunbridge Wells where we store our food in three large storage units. Our volunteers pick and pack food bags three days a week and we have a dedicated team of volunteer drivers that distribute our bags directly to the homes of our beneficiaries.

The Shepherd's Pantry is a portfolio of food and hospitality oriented community support projects. It includes the act of kindness Hug-in-a-Box for people going through difficult circumstances such as bereavement, illness. or divorce. Pantry Parcels provide one-weeks worth of food for a household encountering an expected crisis. The Community Fridge redistributes food to local people that would otherwise go to waste and the Community Coffee Shop brings isolated people together to reduceloneliness.

The Concern According to the most recent report by the charity Waste and Resources Action Programme, the UK produced around 9.5 million tonnes of food waste in 2018. This waste had a value of over £19 billion a year and is associated with more than 25 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. It has said that of this waste, 6.4 million tonnes could have been eaten—the equivalent of over 15 billion meals. A Local Solution Penny Kemp’s Community Pantry is a brand-new non-profit, Heart of Headcorn initiative for the wider Headcorn Parish looking to tackle this problem head-on. We share a passion to help reduce wastage and redistribute local produce back into the local community. Our aim is to provide free access to good quality fresh food that is surplus to the requirements of local producers, supermarkets, food distribution centres and local individuals. Penny Kemp, who passed away in 2021, was a lifelong dedicated environmentalist, a pioneer of the Green party and co-founder of the local Headcorn Sustainability Group. This group was created to support farmers' markets and local shops by encouraging people to buy locally-produced food. The Headcorn Sustainability Group provided a generous donation towards the purchase of the Methodist Church building for the local community. In keeping with Penny’s vision, and the groups’ goals, the Community Pantry aims to complement this mission by focusing on redistribution of local produce and waste reduction. Who Can Use Our Services? Penny Kemp’s Community Pantry is a food wastage reduction project open to anyone in the local community around Headcorn. If you want to help reduce wastage, reduce emissions and encourage local sustainability come and be a part of the redistribution initiative. Location and Times Penny Kemp’s Community Pantry is located in the Heart of Headcorn at the Old Methodist Church, Headcorn. We have created a side entrance gate from Parsonage Meadow that can be used to access the Pantry facilities directly. We aim to be fully operational from 8th October, 2023, 11am - 1pm every Sunday. Donations This is a free initiative for the local community. We will happily receive financial and \ or local community food donations. For more information on how to donate you can contact us directly via pennykempscommunitypantry@gmail.com Who We Work With We are registered with Neighbourly and FareShare as a redistributor of local fresh produce for the community. We also working with the local Rotary club and have agreements in principle to work with other local food banks and private businesses to facilitate the redistribution of excess food stock to the wider community. Recycling Whilst our aim is to redistribute 100% of the fresh produce received, there will be items that may get spoilt, or arrive in surplus. As part of the reduce, reuse, recycle initiative are proud to have agreed to work with the local Headcorn Allotment Society to recycle any spoilt produce for composting.