A GLASGOW food pantry is seeing a “huge” demand for essential items amid the cost-of-living crisis, as it celebrates 100 tonnes of food distributed.

The Govan Pantry, run by charity Govan Help, has had as many as 100 new subscribers every month as soaring living costs hit families.

Chief officer Viv Sawers said: “People just can’t afford the very basic costs of living.

“In November 2020, we signed up almost 2000 people from the local community.

“But the demand is increasing. We've been registering on average about 100 new members a month and we can see that rise even further in the near future.”

Glasgow Times: Viv Sawers is the chief officer at Govan Help, which runs the food pantry. She said people are struggling with the basic costs of living.Viv Sawers is the chief officer at Govan Help, which runs the food pantry. She said people are struggling with the basic costs of living.

The project started as a foodbank two years ago, at the beginning of the pandemic.

After six months, it was converted into a membership-based food pantry.

It allows subscribers to purchase up to ten fresh, frozen and chilled food products and other essentials for £2.50, saving families up to £15 per shop.

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The food, supplied by redistributor FareShare, can be either surplus or short-dated, thus diverting items from landfill, making an environmental saving too.

Since April 2020, the Govan Pantry has distributed 100 tonnes of food and supplied 268,683 meal portions, for a value of £385,025, helping to save 96 square metres of CO2.

Despite the huge success, the pantry has been hit by rising running costs and food supply issues.

Glasgow Times: The pantry also helps the environment by diverting food from landfill.The pantry also helps the environment by diverting food from landfill.

Ms Sawers said: “The project costs in the region of £85,000 to run a year.

“While it does generate a little bit of income that we can use to help subsidise the costs, we do reimburse our 50 volunteers’ expenses and we offer them training courses too.

“The demand is just huge.

“We have a supersize membership with Fareshare, which is based on tonnage, with two deliveries coming into the pantry every week, but they've had a reduction in the amount of stock that they've got.

“Brexit and the lorry driver shortage are still impacting on their food supply because the big supermarkets fundamentally want their food to get to their stores first.”

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To top-up its existing funding for the pantry, the charity has launched a “25 for 25” campaign for its 25th birthday, with the aim to raise £25,000.

“That's just another way that we've tried to secure a bit more funding that's unrestricted, unlike the grants from trusts and foundations, which are usually for a specified purpose,” added Ms Sawers.

Glasgow Times: Volunteers and staff at the Govan Pantry Volunteers and staff at the Govan Pantry

“We've got quite a specific collection of projects as a result of tailoring to the needs of the community.

“We've been able to develop it into a nice resource for families in the area and we want to continue to support them.”

You can donate to Govan Help’s 25 for 25 fundraising campaign here.