Fighting food poverty in Kensington

Member of Parliament for Chelsea and Fulham, Greg Hands, took time out of his busy schedule last week to visit a groundbreaking new initiative in Kensington which aims to combat food poverty, reduce food waste and address social exclusion.

Southern Housing Group, The Guinness Partnership and Clarion Futures (the charitable foundation of Clarion Housing Group) opened the St Giles Food Pantry in September. Since then, membership of the pantry is growing and it is already catering for residents with a variety of dietary requirements.

Mr Hands took part in a roundtable discussion with the project partners and charity St Giles, who operate the Pantry. He heard that after only seven weeks of operation, residents are delighted with the project and value the sense of choice and dignity that comes from using the Pantry. Through the scheme, local residents are able to access high quality, preshelf groceries, supplied by FareShare and which would otherwise go to waste, in return for a £3.50-per-week subscription.

In the UK, 1.9 million tonnes of food is wasted every year by the food industry. The St Giles Pantry is helping to reduce this figure, enabling residents to benefit from a wide variety of weekly changing produce whilst accessing added support around finances and debt. Mr Hands added: “It was inspirational to learn how the different housing associations have come together to help tackle the issue of access to high-quality, affordable food. I look forward to supporting the project so as many local residents as possible can benefit from this fantastic initiative.”