Project setting up ‘People’s Pantry’ offers alternative to food banks

GOVANHILL Baths Community Trust has raised £3500 for a new project known as the People’s Pantry. The shop, which will open on Cathcart Road, will be a “viable alternative” to foodbanks, according to trust manager, Fatima Uygun.

Fatima said: “There is an enormous amount of food poverty in Govanhill, much of which is hidden.

“Whether it be people who have been victims of welfare reform or working families who are on minimum wage and struggling to feed the family, many rely on foodbanks which aren’t always easy to approach.

“You can’t just walk up to most foodbanks and get food. The People’s Pantry is an approach to food poverty that will be more dignified for many.”

The People’s Pantry will offer £15 worth of food for around £2, with many of the items on offer being those which would otherwise end up as landfill.

Fatima said: “With the People’s Pantry, we want it to feel like a real shopping experience, not like a traditional foodbank in the way that you are given a box for the week and often can’t choose what items go into it.

“We will have items on the shelf, with things like vegetables and fruit that would’ve otherwise been thrown to the landfill and into cleansing trucks.

“The food will be safe to eat but thrown away by larger shops because it would be about to go out of date – it means that people can shop daily for dinner that night, rather than buying in bulk and in turn creating more food waste.

“You have people who only need one or two items but have to buy a pack of eight or nine – the People’s Pantry will allow them to do that.”

The People’s Pantry will launch this month in Cathcart Road, which Fatima says is for the good of the Govanhill community.

She said: “Cathcart Road is a neglected area of Govanhill.

“All of the emphasis is on Victoria Road and on that side