Bourne Butterfield Community Pantry
 

Hi guys, this is Helen at It's Funtime Bourne Bouncy Castle hire. I've just popped on here to talk to you about a new initiative in Bourne which we found and seems absolutely fantastic. The initiative is called the Butterfield Community Pantry and it is run from the Butterfield Community Centre on North Road in Bourne.

The pantry follows the model of the community fridges which have popped up around the country. What they do is collect unsold food from local supermarkets and retailers that would have otherwise have gone to waste and gone into landfill and redistribute the goods into the community on a pay as you feel basis. This means if you haven't got the cash to pay you can volunteer your services or donate something you do have or you can pop a cash donation in the collections box. All collections gathered from the pantry go to support the Butterfield Community Centre which is in normal times a day centre for the elderly and we believe also operate the meals on wheels service.

The Pantry often have some fantastic treats and seem to get produce for our local Tesco's the Bakkavor factory as well as Marks and Spencer's. Even our local town mayor Colin Patterson donated food valued at £100 for the Butterfield Community Pantry on its opening week. 

We really love this local project and have been trying to regularly donate goods to it.  So far It's Funtime have donated a large amount of baked products as well as tinned produce and we have been told that the Pantry can accept any food donations as long as they are wrapped and "in date" We think it's important that local companies support these kind of initiatives to stop so much usable food being wasted whilst families are struggling. If you too would like support The Pantry, it is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 1 p.m. till 3 p.m. and anyone is welcome. All they ask is that you take your own bag and obviously a face covering given the current circumstances. Access via Harrington Street into the Butterfield Centre and they are only allowed 2 people in the room at once, so please do take a coat as you may have to queue outside for a few minutes.

Let's all get behind this fantastic project to reduce food waste, help our local Butterfield Community Centre and assist struggling families at the same time. Don't forget you don't need to be in receipt of any referral from social services, you don't have to be on benefits to take advantage of this service, it really is for everybody with the main aim of reducing food waste.