Help Needed to Feed Folk at Christmas
Lesley Matthews, community fridge co-ordinator for Transition Bro Gwaen, has sent the following message:
Peninsula Community Pod – working to feed people in need since 2019 (St Davids) and 2020 (Fishguard) – has been working as a charity since April 2022.
Although the numbers have come down since Covid, when we were feeding 87 households a week, we are still feeding 30 households a week, 16 in Fishguard and area, 14 in St Davids and area.
We deliver to Puncheston, Letterston, Brawdy, Solva, St Davids, Trefin, Trecwn, Mathry, Scleddau, Stop and Call, Goodwick and Fishguard.
In the past three months we have provided approximately 9,216 meals.
We’re run entirely by volunteers and rely on donations to enable us to buy the food we provide.
We provide an extra box at Christmas filled with Christmas foods – and we need donations of either food or money to help us buy the following;
Christmas vegetables (sprouts/parsnips)
Fruit – satsumas, dates
Christmas pudding/custard
Mince pies/Christmas cake
Ham/tinned salmon
Chocolates
Savoury snacks
Cheese/pickles/cheese biscuits
Donations can be left at the garage on the seafront in Goodwick
We are also looking for volunteers in both St Davids and Fishguard. We’ve been running the charity for three years nonstop and the time has come to let someone else have a go. We need people to organise and pack the boxes and drivers to deliver them.
Volunteers can get in touch with Louise Tarbuck in St Davids (louisetarbuck@hotmail.com) or Lesley Matthews (ourgaff13@gmx.com).
Situated in a lovely shed in the Gateway car park (behind the Fire Station off Clive Road), we’re open five days a week and closed Thursdays and Fridays.
We’re proud to have saved many tons of food from going to landfill – this year alone we have saved 6,500kg. We have a wonderful group of volunteers who collect food from many supermarkets including Tesco, CK, Aldi and the Coop and make sure the pantry is clean and welcoming.
Individuals donate to the Fridge too – allotment-holders in particular have been very generous as have owners of holiday homes who bring us the food that holidaymakers have left behind.
We used to use the larger side of the shed as our Fridge but since the pandemic we have used the far end as a pantry and the bigger part as storage.
We have noticed, however, that supermarkets have less to offer us. Some are now using ‘good to go’ bags where you can buy a bag containing £10 worth of past-its-best-date food for £3.50. We know this is marvellous as we do want less food waste – but we are also caught in a paradox where many people can’t afford to buy food at the moment and find themselves reliant on us. We will continue to do our best believing that everyone has a right to good-quality inexpensive food.
