15 February 2023
Feeding families and the community with a pop-up shop
A diverse and caring organisation, St. Francis Church is located on the Chantry estate and is available to the growing community. It’s always been a space where families and friends can come together and enjoy each other’s company, but it more recently has served as a pop-up food pantry by way of support and donations from local grocers and organisations like FareShare.
All are welcome at St. Francis
Individuals don’t need an explanation to visit the St. Francis pop-up shop. Whether it’s a family struggling to make ends meet or an individual in a bind because of an emergency financial situation, everyone is welcome to explore the sustenance and take something home for the family to enjoy.
“Anyone can take a trip up and pay two pounds for a bag,” shared Sue Strutt, church warden and pop-up shop coordinator. “We accept anyone and everyone, I’m not there to judge.”
St. Francis sets up the pop-up shop to work like a market. Instead of grabbing a ready-made bag, the community members have the opportunity to browse around and choose whatever they’d like to take home.
“We can help create bags into meals if requested,” said Sue. “For example, we can offer a tin of meatballs, sausages, potatoes, peas, carrots, beans, and spaghetti and they’ll get at least three different meals out of our shop.”
Working with FareShare
For the last seven years, FareShare has made the pop-up shop possible.
“Because of FareShare, people dealing with financial challenges can stop and have tea or coffee,” said Sue. “During the winter, I encourage people to come inside and have hot toast. This has almost become a community of its own, and it’s had a great impact on the wellbeing and socialisation of people.”
From baked beans, tinned tomatoes and pasta, to chocolates, cakes and other sweets, St. Francis Church gets an abundance of choices from FareShare. With this support, the church can help the community members create nutritious meals and socialise with other locals.
“Opening up the pop-up shop has provided a lot of nutritional support to the families in the area,” said Sue. “I also think that the well-being is impacted – community members love to come together and talk to each other. When they come in, they shop around, have a cup of tea and a piece of cake afterward. All of this has had a great impact on the well-being of the community.”
