New Leven food project launches

Dozens of volunteers helped out at the launch of the People’s Pantry on Friday, helping around 90 subscribers choose from a variety of food.

The project operates out of The Centre in Leven, giving members the chance to access a cafe for a free drink and chat, pick ‘n’ mix refill station with daily essentials, such as pasta, rice and coffee, and entry to a pantry filled with various foodstuffs.

The users get ten tokens which they can then use to pick up different foods.

It costs £2 per week – but this is to fund the transportation of the food to The Centre.

Billy Bain, a member of Fife Council’s Community Food Team, which helped the volunteers set up People’s Pantry, said: “I am so delighted for the volunteers. It has been their vision and it has finally happened. I’ve just been supporting them to realise their vision.”

He also thanked a number of groups and organisations.

In particular, he thanked Stuart’s for donating surplus food every week, Castle Furniture for donating prizes for the opening and a back up fridge and freezer, the Community Trade Hub for building the pantry space, Robertson’s Printers for helping with the designs, The Centre management committee for its support, Levenmouth Area Committee for its financial support, and FareShare.

FareShare Tayside and Fife supports around 120 organisations in their patch, collecting and delivering food to different groups, including Leven’s People’s Pantry, one of three it supports.

“From what we’ve seen so far, Billy has done a great job researching what he needs to do to run a pantry properly,” said David Nicol, volunteer and development manager.

“A pantry like this offers a dignified approach for people who might be in food crisis.”

Cllr Ken Caldwell added: “This is a fantastic project which will help address the food insecurity issue which we have in Levenmouth.

“This is the first of its kind in Fife and we hope to be able to roll this model out to other Areas in Levenmouth and beyond. There has been excellent support for this in the local community.”

People’s Pantry is now over-subscribed.

To join the waiting list, phone The Centre on 01334 659 348.