Food Story
Vegelicious Case Study: Cedar Park Pantry
Food Story
Cedar Park Pantry was set up 5 years ago by the Smallshaw-Hurst Children’s Community, Ashton United in the Community and St John the Evangelist Church. Its aim is to support families living in the area who face the challenge of food poverty. The Pantry has around 90 visitors each week, all from the local community and it’s quite an event!
Visitors are warmly welcomed by an army of volunteers who help them select chilled and frozen items and ambient products. There is also a large selection of fruit and veg to choose from too. Cedar Park Pantry has been a member of FareShare for a while and recently signed up to the new Vegelicious project. They receive 400kg of mixed produce which means the volume and selection is considerable.
Alongside the pantry there are a host of activities, developed and led by volunteers from the local community. On pantry day there is ‘Hug in a Mug’ with hot drinks on offer alongside fruit or cake. Lots of people turn up just to be sociable and catch up with their neighbours.
A network of community cooks has been developed, including a junior section. Recipe packs are created to encourage people to cook from scratch and try new things so they can eat healthily and on a budget. The community cooks prepare the recipe for sampling alongside handing out the packs.
‘Friends Round Friday’ is a highlight for older people and the ‘Mum’s Circle of Friendship’ has allowed local mums to meet new friends and find support. There are bingo nights, breakfast clubs, holiday clubs and much more with the highlight of the calendar being Hurstfest in August.
Becky, who helped establish the ‘Mum’s Circle of Friendship’, is really pleased with the increase in fruit and veg available at the pantry. She was part of the community cooks training scheme and is now adding veg to everything – her approach is to “throw everything together and try it!” Becky’s 14 year old and 5 year old love it too and she can afford for them to try different things. Her top tip is to make Cucumber Boats – cut lengths of cucumber, scoop out the seeds and fill with tuna mayo – a real hit in her house. Her next challenge is Kale…
If you’re from a charity or community group supporting those experiencing food insecurity and would like to know more, please get in touch with Sharon at sharon.robinson@emergemanchester.co.uk
