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A not for profit organisation aiming to re-distribute local food that would otherwise go to waste, making better use of resources and helping the environment along the way.
Our Activities
The aims of the organisation include receiving and re-distributing surplus food (from retailers, producers and farms) to the local community of Whittlesey and the surrounding villages via our community pantry.
Future plans include collecting, storing, repairing and re-distributing household items to the local community of Whittlesey and the surrounding villages (Not active at this current time)
Contact Anna
Helping Whittlesey:
Helping Whittlesey Community Pantry:
WE’RE HERE TO HELP YOU AND THE PLANET
Helping Whittlesey began 6 years ago with Deborah Slator and Anna Foster creating a Facebook page to respond to Whittlesey community needs – helping the local community to relieve hard times. Deborah stepped down due to other commitments and Anna stepped up to carry on the good work. We have now become a registered charity (Charity No. 1205448), opening a community pantry in September 2023, with future plans for a community food garden, a re-use and repair centre, and to provide related social support and education. It’s also a platform where we will continue to support local charities and share local news and events that may be beneficial to others.
The Community Coming Together To Prevent Waste And Help The Environment
Partners of Helping Whittlesey
Helping Whittlesey & The Community Pantry is only possible thanks to supportive local businesses and organisations. Alongside the fantastic volunteers, the following partners have provided resources, funding and time.
Helping Whittlesey Community Pantry
Opening times Tuesday & Thursday 1-2pm, Saturday 1-1.30pm & Sundays 5-6pm
Anyone can access this food! It's free! If you can use it, take it!
Donation pot if you’d like to help towards utility costs.
We have turned one!
In 1 year we have saved 34.5 tonne of food and flowers!
Since We Opened
23 Sep 2023 - 18 Oct 2023 = 1.18 tonnes of food collected
19 Oct 2023 - 16 Nov 2023 = 1.53 tonnes of food collected
17 Nov 2023 - 11 Dec 2023= 1.47 tonnes of food collected
11 Dec 2023 - 31 Dec 2023 = 3.87 tonnes of food collected
January 2024 = 1.82 tonnes of food collected
February 2024 = 1.73 tonnes of food collected
March 2024 = 2.28 tonnes of food collected
April 2024 = 3.84 tonnes of food collected
May 2024 = 3.63 tonnes of food collected
June 2024 = 3.57 tonnes of food collected
July 2024 = 2.78 tonnes of food collected
August 2024 = 3.88 tonnes of food collected
Any packaging gets recycled as much as possible – plastic goes in a bag and taken to the supermarkets and carboard goes in the recycling bin.
Supporting the Local Community
We are pleased to be able to supply local good causes such as the phoenix youth group & churches with snacks and buffet food, saving them from dipping into funds, provided cakes for Trinity Church cake & rake, helped with fundraising for Coates Village hall, Coates Primary school & The Woman's institute by providing food to reduce their outgoing costs & provided Whittlesey holiday club with food to give out to families.
Keep up to date on social media.
For updates on our progress, opening times and food availability via Facebook, click here:
What have you made from food from the pantry? Use hashtags #fillingbelliesnotbins #thepantrycookbook to share food ideas from what you have taken and made from the food. Together we can create an online cookbook
Whittlesey Community Pantry won the 2024 Pride of Fenland Awards: Community Group of the year!
Thank you to everyone who nominated us and to everyone who has helped to make the project become the success that it is.
Christmas Appeal 2023
A huge thank you to Nisa for allowing us a generous discount with everything brought for the Christmas appeal & their donations.
With donations from Aesthetics by Tamsin Tamsin Ford raffle, we were able to provide 40 food hampers for our older citizens and buy extra plus food from the pantry with Colin Wilson cooking, we provided those alone in Christmas day a cooked dinner.
12 families had a full Christmas lunch provided for them. 109 children had presents from Santa .
465 selection boxes & 150 advent calendars were given out as well as 107 rolls of wrapping paper & cello tape, and 50 smellies for the youth group.
The hospital had smellies, chocolate & shortbread to hand out on the ward Christmas day.
Left over toys went to Peterborough hospital for their giving tree.
Thank you would never be enough for the lives you've changed this Christmas.
To every one of you who donated towards it.
The businesses... Nisa, Mccains, The Falcon, the Factory shop for their generous toy collection.
The grants & money donations that I've mentioned before... every £5/10/20 plus that's been donated by members of the community... to the people who have donated, dropped off, helped collect, sort and wrap some of the presents.
To Erin at Thorney food bank for your support, help, donations & letting us use the space for storage.
What a wonderful community we live in and I'm privileged to be a part of it.
#thepantrycookbook
Our latest project! The Helping Whittlesey Community Cabin - in partnership with Coates Primary School.
After calling them up to ask if they wanted any bananas, it lead to a conversation about a similar project running in Wisbech and was it something we could support? I told them to leave it with me! I got a grant from Cambridgeshire County Council and found a shed online (I did look at reviews etc first!) Cal from Owen builders got busy! He made a base for the shed. Prominimix laid the concrete. Cal then set about constructing the shed, but it was awful wouldn't have lasted. So he took it down again. Graham from the shed shop has been fab. He offered to deliver & install a shed at no cost, but I still needed more money to actually buy the shed... so I called some local business's and explained what we were doing.... Keelan from RBElectrical & Darren from T&T car vehicle sales matched their cash donation, allowing us the extra money needed for the shed.
It went up last week & Andy & Brian Rippon secured the fittings for us and created a back for our banners to go on.
The cabin is open to anyone, adult's & kids (not just Coates school kids) during school hours, and in the holidays keep an eye on the Pantry Facebook page for opening times. We have babies, children, teens & ladies and men's items!
Take what you'll use, but be mindful to think of others. When you're having a sort out you can donate some items back. We have a pantry shelf. Any dried in date food you don't want, any toiletries etc you can add to this shelf. We will add some items that we collect from the pantry (obviously no chilled or frozen items)
I'm so very proud of this project and I love the response it's received already. We will have a black storage box outside, so if you'd like to donate to the cabin, you can leave them there.
A huge, huge thank you to all the wonderful local companies, individuals & volunteers that donated in one way or another to help make this possible.
Coming Soon ...
Thank You
Thank you to all the Trustees, committee members and volunteers. Without them we couldn’t do what we do.
Without the support of Colin and the Falcon there wouldn’t be a pantry. Without the support of the community Helping Whittlesey wouldn’t be the success it is!
Thank you.
