There was a fire/explosion at one of the estates in Bedford, "Redwood Grove", not far from Kingsbrook where we are based. As the Centre Manager, I opened the community centre so that people could bring donations and food for the residents, as they had virtually lost everything they owned and were now living in Travelodges all over Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire. I phoned the local radio station and asked them to let people know where to bring the donations.
I was very surprised by the generosity of the people across Bedfordshire, as far as Luton. I don't know why I was surprised because it is a well-known fact that people always come together in a crisis. We had people who were not affected by the fire/explosion coming to the centre to ask if we had food they could have because they were on a very low income and needed food desperately.
Some of the volunteers asked me, near the end of the two-month donation and collection period, what the next project was going to be. So I said, because people in the community are so desperate for food due to food poverty, what did they think about a "Community Food Pantry"? They all agreed that it was a brilliant idea, so I did what I love doing: I carried out the necessary research to find out how it could work. We had a food bank at the centre at the time, so I phoned their project manager and explained what our intention was, asked if they would mind if we went ahead, and moreover, would they be supportive of the venture. They said yes to everything and that they would tell people about us.
It was a very slow process. I could not get any funding for the project because we were not a registered charity at the time; of course, that soon changed, and we became registered. I had been saving up for about three years to go on a big family holiday to our parents' homeland, Nevis in the West Indies, in March of the same year, but the pandemic stopped that, so I just had the money sitting there doing nothing. I used that money for my community and paid for the initial foods, toiletries and beverages to stock the shelves. I also found that I needed to buy packets of nappies as young mothers were finding making ends meet difficult. We had to send out leaflets to every house in the two wards, Kingsbrook Ward and Cauldwell Ward, as they were the two wards that we had decided to serve.
We asked our local Councillor, Dean Croft, if he would open the doors for us and cut the ribbon on 5th December 2020. Cllr Croft has been a massive supporter of the Pantry and is always there to give advice when it is needed.
The Pantry is run by Christians and is supported very well by my Church, "Bedford Pentecostal Church", on Roise Street in the Town Centre, just off Bromham Road.
