Tuesday 29th July
Report written by Claire Dunne
As the students had left town for the Summer it was a good opportunity to give the Kingsgate Church food bank a Summer clean.
Claire and Farzeen started working on the fridges and freezers cleaning away the pesky crumbs and washing all the shelves and drawers.
Meanwhile upstairs the team of Luke, Tom, Jenny, Anna and Enara started to sort the canned fruit, meatballs, soup and some very strange looking drinks to identify those which had expired or were close to expiry. Anything close to expiry was put at the top of the pile and everything that had expired was separated out.
One of the freezers needed a little help defrosting for its clean so Anna joined Farzeen with some hot water to give it a helping hand whilst Tom tackled the last fridge.
Everything cleaned and sorted some brave Goodgymers decided to try the mystery drinks that would apparently provide calmness. Some slightly odd expressions followed the tasting - very sweet flavoured with a combination of berries was the verdict. Let’s hope they provided a sense of calm and serenity.
For those that didn’t fancy the mystery drinks there was an assortment of soup, tinned fruit and shepherds pies to take home that were close to expiry and prevent unnecessary food waste.
National research as well as student survey data from the university demonstrate a need to support students, many of whom are affected by the cost-of-living pressures. This first-come, first-serve weekly pantry charges only £5 for £25’s worth of food, personal hygiene and essential household cleaning items. Feel free to pop by for a tea or coffee whilst picking up your groceries, or tune into the live healthy budget cooking demonstrations and access the optional pastoral support and signposting to additional services available.
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Help this great community space flourish with some GG TLC