More than a full tummy social impact report June 2018 – Church Action on Poverty
Food poverty is a reality as incomes stagnate with little prospect of increasing. The Pantry model is an effective way to make sure that people’s budgets go further. The benefits of Pantries are numerous: they provide breathing space for struggling families; they offer fresh food to households that would otherwise be limited to cheap, less healthy food; and they tackle social isolation.
The Pantries are used by members in different ways. For some people they are an added extra, a way to improve their weekly shop. For others the Pantries are a safety net: if they are struggling for money at a particular time, they know they have the Pantry to ‘fall back on’ so that they will not go without food. Some people dip in and out of using the Pantry as and when they need to. For others on very limited budgets the Pantry is an ongoing essential source of food; without it, people would be going without food or living on very limited diets.
“It is really a safety net as well, in case you do have to pay out an unexpected item. It’s thinking well ‘I got to buy this, but I got the Pantry on Friday, so I know I will get food in’.”
One of the distinguishing features of Pantries is that the requirements for membership are minimal and there is no pressure for people to move on. Continued membership is not seen as a problem: as one member pointed out, continued membership benefits the Pantry, it brings in regular funds and maintains the number of members. “I say to people don’t wait until you hit rock bottom … you paying in money each week benefits everyone, use it as a way of stopping yourself getting into financial trouble. The hardest thing is getting people to use it as a resource rather than wait for a disaster and use it
as a crutch.”
Food insecurity does not just depend on unemployment – people in food poverty may be retired, affected by illness, disability or other circumstances that will not necessarily change, and therefore their financial situation will be unlikely to improve. If people continue to be Pantry members for the long term that is not a problem.
