Flackwell Heath Community Pantry

Now that Christ Church Flackwell Heath is open every week day until 5pm, it’s easier to pop donations into the basket in the foyer. If you are around in the morning, pop in for a drink and a chat in coffee stop.

The Pantry are very thankful to have the support of Christ Church who allow us to use the Church Hall free of charge so that we do not have any overheads. All financial donations go directly to top up what we need each week after receiving food, hygeine and baby supplies that our wonderful community provide.

We have been asked about financial donations - please find the Give A Little link in the pinned post at the top of our page. All donations go direct to the Pantry.

Thank you to members of the Pantry team who ran the Christ Church Community Cafe over the summer holiday. We finished on a high today with a meal of spaghetti bolognaise, garlic bread and ice cream.

Our families have welcomed the opportunity to eat a hot meal together and enjoy one another’s company as the younger members of the Pantry Volunteer Team entertained the children.

Thank you so much to the Helping Hand Team at Buckinghamshire Council who provided the funds to make this happen.

We remain committed to being a non-referral food support initiative. All who are struggling to meet the basic financial needs of their household are welcome. We do not need to see any financial data but will ask to see proof of address or hear more about the school or church you attend.

Our Christ Church Community Cafe is coming to a close - it’s been amazing to support families in this way over the summer holiday. The Pantry will be open again from Thursday September 5th at 8:30 am.

Such a wonderful set up for the community. FREE meal! See below for details.

What's your favourite jacket potato topping? 🥔

Join us down at Hills Cafe for a jacket potato meal with our Community Support team!

Hygeine Poverty really is a recognised concern for households struggling to meet all the financial demands on the household. Put bluntly, food often top trumps a second laundry session for the week, only brushing teeth once a day and perhaps disregarding deodorant.

We offer the items below once a month (1st week of the month) to help combat this basic need. Any single item is gratefully received. We have run out of stocks completely.

- Laundry pods (it’s easier to split the packet to share the contents)
- Shower gel
- Deodorant
- Toothpaste and brushes (adult & child)
- Shampoo & conditioner
- Sanitary towels

We are working behind the scenes to get ready for a new season in the Pantry. From Thursday 5th September the Pantry Team will operate the following session times. We are very grateful for the time our volunteers give outside of their every day routines arriving pretty early to get things ready.

Session runs from 8:30 am until last entry at 10:00am. Doors will close by 10:15am.

This is a little different but Debbie (who is part of the Pantry Team) would love to encourage anyone who would like to try something new to go along. They really are a friendly bunch.

Three locations - all in the village centre! Thank you for the donations.

Locations for these baskets -
Flackwell Food & Wine
Flackwell Heath Methodist Church
Sainsbury’s Local.

We’ve been reviewing our core essentials list based on an exit poll taken a few weeks ago in the Pantry. The list suprised us - in a good way. Our recipients are not after high end produce - just everyday basics. We will share more next week. In the meantime - any donation you are able to make offers a lifeline to someone in YOUR community who is struggling.

Thank you to those who attended the first Monday lunch at Christ Church Community Cafe. It was super hot in the kitchen but the ice cream for dessert helped to cool us down!

Don’t forget to sign up before this Wednesday for next Monday if you would to come along for lunch.

Email [email protected] to book a place or find out further information.

Some of the Pantry team have switched roles to support the Christ Church Community Cafe for the summer holidays.

We are offering a free lunch for families. This is being managed by Christ Church Flackwell Heath and The Flackwell Heath Community Pantry. Our thanks to the Helping Hand Team at Bucks Council for awarding the Pantry funds to provide the meals. There are limited numbers and all places need to be booked in advance.

Email [email protected] for info.

For us - saying goodbye to recipients is not a sad occasion. It means that the household is back on its feet and able to manage without us. Five families have left us in recent weeks. We wish them well; it’s been our privelage to walk alongside you during your time of need.

On a first visit, we provide an induction leaflet to fully inform recipients how we operate. This includes how we work with other services who are able to give wider support than we can offer should the need arise.

Sometimes changes in a household mean they no longer meet our criteria to come along to the pantry. On these occasions, we use the connection we have with other services to try and find alternate support.

It’s important we keep the community here in Flackwell Heath updated on progress. Not least, we really do need your continued support to sustain this wonderful community provision. We’ll publish a numbers update next week.

Summer Cupboard Refresh.

We would be delighted to receive any in date items that you find in your cupboards that won’t make a meal time appearance.

Pop into a donation basket or one of the Street Champion boxes (see pinned post.)

The set up for the morning - thank you to our volunteers who arrive at 7 to make sure we are ready. This is the last session before the school holiday. We are grateful to everyone who supports this community provision.

Watch this space as we share other news about our holiday activity.

A wonderful opportunity for the family to get outside - please sign up for this free activity!

We are delighted to share our Family Ranger Days with you in partnership with Marsh and Micklefield Big Local.

Spaces are now available on Tuesday 30th July. A maximum of three children can attend with every adult.

We have morning and afternoon slots available. For more information and to book, please click on the links below or visit our Eventbrite page.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/852775302887

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/857893591827

If you have any questions, please email [email protected] or call 01494 474486

⭐️⭐️ F U N D R A I S I N G ⭐️⭐️

£750 so far!!! All from recycled greetings cards. ♻️

We need more cards to carry on this great source of funding!

One of the team supports the pantry by selling repurposed greeting cards. If you had a celebration (birthday, anniversary, christening etc), please can you pop any cards you are happy to recycle to Christ Church Flackwell Heath any weekday morning. Feel free to remove the front from the back. Thank you.

Sharing the information. The team at Helping Hand are wonderful - do please contact them if you are struggling.

Worried about buying food, bills, debts, and extra costs during the summer holidays? If you're on a low income or experiencing a financial emergency or crisis, contact our Helping Hand team. They will assess your needs and can refer you to a food bank or direct you to support.

To get some help:
💻 Fill in the online form: https://orlo.uk/W19hu
or
📱Call 01296 531 151
Phone lines are open Monday to Thursday (9am to 5:30pm) & Friday (9am to 5pm).

We will be operating slightly differently over the summer holiday to enable the volunteers to assist with some related projects and have a well earned break. Keep an eye on this page for news updates.

Our supplies are very low and would appreciate any donations that make their way to us.

As ever, we are very grateful to all of you on our community who support the Pantry.

Our Pantry Team take time to listen as recipients share their ups and downs. We maintain confidentiality at all times. It’s important that we build relationships and keep conversations going. If required, and with a recipients consent, we can access additional external support for a household.

The Flackwell Heath Pantry continues to support those in our community who struggle to keep up with Essential Household bills that lead to food poverty within the household. We have 118 households on our Register.

Why are we sharing this news now? It’s just to let everyone know that over the next couple of weeks, we will be handing out our refreshed joining leaflet (Who we are, Who can attend?, FAQS etc.) with all recipients offering a gentle opportunity to touch base with everyone before the summer break.

Sun is out! Come down and say hello at HeathFest!

Your village church is now open longer every weekday and all day Sunday! You can now leave donations in the foyer basket up until 5pm. The basket is just inside the door on the left.

For those in the village who would like a quiet place to rest a while, please do make use of your village church.

We do not have any of the items below. If we can support recipients by supplying these items alongside basic food, household funds can be spent on maintaining essential bills.

Just brilliant - more supplies for the Pantry courtesy of our Local Sainsbury’s.

On behalf of all the recipients who are supported so well by our whole community - a humble thank you.

We are completely out of Tea and Squash.

Any single item would be most welcome.

We know some of you support older family members and friends. Please come along to this free event if you are able.

⭐️ N E W ⭐️ D O N A T I O N ⭐️ P O I N T S ⭐️

If you are interested in hosting a donation box for the Pantry - please contact Larisa Townsend.

We are keen to increase our physical food donations and welcome any single item from our regular needs list. We still regularly welcome new households from our local community.

Street Champion Locations -
Northern Woods Farm, Bracken Way
25 Sedgmoor Road
239 Blind Lane

We had visitors today! Students from Carrington Junior School came along to see how the pantry operates. Their donations were packed away enabling the children to get a feel for how our Pantry works, who may come along needing help and the different meals that could be produced from their donations. All went away thinking about how wonderful our community is here in Flackwell Heath. ❤️

We are removing our plastic bags over the next week or so to do our bit for the environment.

Please come along with a suitable bag from home from Thursday 20th June.

Thank you.

YOU-NIQUE is a wonderful group meeting on the 2nd Wednesday of the month. Leoni has asked us to share the info below especially as it’s the last session tomorrow for this term. Please pop along if you are able to.

Sharing the info - new drop in advice hub running in High Wycombe.