The People’s Pantry
‘It started with a fridge.’
Our community lead Peoples Pantry began with one community fridge in 2019 at Repton Connect Community Centre.
- Fun Fact: We are proud that we opened the first community fridge in Kent and the 65th in the UK! The aim of this was to reduce food waste and rescue food destined for destruction.
- This then grew into a small food cupboard run by and for community members.
- Following increased demand, we became a food bank during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- We also provided support via innovative 24hr food lockers and a delivery scheme for vulnerable people.
- Looking at a longer-term sustainable model to food insecurity we began free recipe bag schemes in 2020 and a community shop (social supermarket) in 2022.
We have grown to become one of Ashford’s main providers, supporting people experiencing food insecurity. We now support over 12,000 people per year. After an amazing fundraising campaign in 2022 we purchased an E-Van and our community shop sessions are now mobile, visiting rural locations with poor transport links. If you can’t get to us, we’ll come to you!
Ashford
Kent
Based in the Community Square at the back of Repton Connect Community Centre, you’ll find our beautifully fitted Community Shop.
Rural Rother
East Sussex
People were telling us they needed support in Rural Rother but couldn’t get to us in Ashford so we thought, lets get on the road!
For more information or to make a donation please contact us using the following options:
Huge thanks to all of our supporters including Metrobank, Fareshare and Ashford Hygiene Bank and InKind Direct.