Can community groceries replace food banks?

BY L AURA S TRATFORD G REATER L INCOLNSHIRE F OOD PARTNERSHIP

“OUR vision is for a UK without the need for food banks.”

The Trussell Trust (the UK’s largest network of foodbanks, including Lincoln Foodbank)

Foodbanks and community larders are intended to meet urgent, short term, emergency needs for food. They were never intended to provide long term food support. But economic inequalities continue to deepen, and the cost-of-living crisis is forcing some people into untenable situations. Donations to foodbanks are down, referrals are up, food charities cannot meet the increasing need - and neither do they want people to become reliant on them, that has never been their purpose.

Moreover, however kind and welcoming foodbank volunteers are, many people still experience a sense of shame and stigma of having to ask for help, let alone return for it multiple times.

Everyone should have dignified access to good food. So what is to be done?

One response that is emerging in Lincolnshire is the Community Grocery. I visited Mary Maguire and Mark Waby at the new Grocery in Bardney, which opened at the end of June.

The village already has a welcoming community cafe, but the need for everyday food support was recognised around six months ago. The idea of the Grocery was met with immense support and goodwill from the local community.Volunteers of every generation stepped up to help, and local tradesfolk offered their labour and/or materials for free. Open to everyone, membership of the Grocery costs £5/year, and it is open six days a week including some evenings. It offers members an extremely low cost shop (currently £6 for five items of fruit & vegetables and up to ten items in total). The extreme low cost is possible thanks to the work of volunteers and donations of food (normally from food producer businesses).

Small grants have enabled the grocery to employ a wonderful manager, Harriet, who has worked so hard doing all the spade work and is now brilliantly running the grocery itself.

The small income generated helps with the purchase of essential items that are not donated - especially fresh produce.

“We are independent so we can see what works and make adjustments,” explains Mark, who owns the cafe and grocery buildings, which he provides at zero rent. “Our main challenge is accessing enough good quality fresh fruit and vegetables.”

Mark’s bulk brassica purchases at car boot sales don’t constitute a regular or diverse enough supply.

Ideas and hopes for the future include an artisan bakery and vegetable growing close to the village, for maximum health and freshness with minimal mileage.

The village holds a monthly Communi-tea, a community meal where local residents bring and share food. From its home-based origins, the event now welcomes up to 70 people including children who gather each month to share food in the village hall. Convivial dining is a powerful force in building friendships and creating the solidarity across age and income groups that are seen in the village.

Mary explains: “We build a good relationship with everyone, by the grace of God.”

Lincoln has a Community Grocery on Beaumont Fee, which has been open a little longer and works on the same principles: communitygrocery.org.uk/lincoln