Okehampton Community Kitchen and Food Bank
Okehampton, UK
We are a West Devon registered fresh and ambient food bank and offer other life skills and resilience projects. Member of Independent Food Aid Network and winners of the FSB Community Award 2023. We are all volunteers. FOOD BANK & MEALS Elderly (they can then afford more heating or care) Youngsters at risk of no hot meal. Long term sick or post hospital recovery Short term sick self employed Those in acute financial distress Those with a sudden life change (a few examples are job loss, bereavement, broken boiler or cooker, relationship breakup) Homeless and those in temporary accommodation with no cooking facilities Working people on Universal Credit awaiting change of circumstances SLOW COOKERS Those who urgently need to reduce expenditure and increase nutrition and are willing to learn a new cooking method. We provide recipe kits with ingredients. LIFE SKILLS Youngsters and adults who want to learn to cook from scratch on a budget and are willing to share those skills with others or cook for their community. COMMUNITY COOK AND SHARE EVENTS Anyone; these are about equality and as such automatically make it easier for those hardest to reach to join in without feeling humiliated but also those new to the area and those already here who want to offer a friendly face and connect with their community. EXCESS FOOD This is about ensuring we take in and distribute as much as possible to ensure food in our community is not wasted. It has to be distributed fast and effectively so we promote it for anyone after ensuring those on our books as "in acute need" are contacted first. YOUTH FOOD We are committed to supporting youngsters to connect over food. Most recently this has been delivering hot meals to children in a registered warm space in town. HOTPOTS A basic, beany hotpot available with no questions asked on Fridays and Saturdays. Oh I could ramble on and on. For some people they might not necessarily need food but if we give it to them they can put more money on the electric and treat themselves to warmth. How wrong is that to be reality? I hate posting people's stories as they are so personal but it does help get others to come forward and see what we can do to help. With permission, here are just a few from the last month. Call from WDBC to alert us to a young lady with a wheelchair in temporary housing 7 miles out of town with no cooking facilities and no benefits yet in payment. Bereaved family unable to access the deceased mum's bank account. Homeless with no cooking facilities. Elderly man who hadn't eaten a hot meal in 7 months referred by his new carer. Working mum whose car broke down but doesn't live on a bus route and barely scrapes the mortgage but equally can't afford to move. Car or food? Without the car she has no job and she'd already sold her TV. This list is by no means exhaustive. Who do we serve? All those who fall through the gaps.
What we've received