Since 2020 Punk Against Poverty have been supporting the sharing of food with the community in Torbay through their network of Punk Pantries – mini food banks accessible 24 hours a day where anyone can donate food they have to spare or take food when they need it. The pantries are also supported by supermarkets who share surplus food to be put in them, reducing wastage whilst helping those in need.
Being located outdoors, the Punk Pantries are built to be hardy and to withstand the elements however after 4 years of use one of the pantries had reached the end of its life, with its roof half off, its paintwork faded and its signage blown away in a gale, and as a result was facing having to be removed from use.
The Naturesave Trust came to the rescue with a grant to replace the pantry with a new, larger pantry to enable the organisation to help even more people over the coming years.
Director of Punk Against Poverty, Steffi Curran says:
“Our pantries are an invaluable source of support for so many people in need and we find users are very grateful for the opportunity to access food in a crisis, no questions asked and completely anonymously. Our St Marychurch pantry in Torquay which is located outside Howard Mortgages who so kindly allow us to have it there, was in a poor state and too small to meet the high demands of it. We are so very grateful to The Naturesave Trust for stepping in and enabling us to replace this pantry, and to Corinna at Little Free Library Builder for building such an incredible pantry for our community to use which will help so many and continue reducing food waste in Torquay.”
Punks Against Poverty is a CIC working to provide immediate help to local people struggling with poverty, and to create positive pathways for young people out of poverty. You can find out more about their work here.
