Post-Pandemic, the continuing need for food resources in the Tamar Valley is now greater than ever, members of the town council were told last week.

The pandemic and now the cost of living crisis which sees the price of food, fuel and energy at an all time high have seen local initiatives to help those who are struggling to make ends meet such as the Community Larder and Callington’s Foodbank and soup runs being frequented by their highest numbers of people to date.

At a recent Callington Town Council meeting, the foodbank reported having received 371 referrals last year, when in 2019 (pre-pandemic) referral numbers stood at 263. To accommodate for the rise in numbers, the foodbank is undertaking two new major projects.

The first is seeking a change in premises to a more appropriate property to help with storage of produce and to facilitate easier access; a range of options are currently being investigated and explored.

The second is a financial inclusion project, which will see an officer stationed at the foodbank to help investigate and tackle the route cause of referrals.

The foodbank also reported that the mobile community larder, operated by the Tamar Valley Community Food Project, saw an average of 72 people a week using the service at the weekly Wednesday morning session in Callington.

The larder toured other local areas such as St Ann’s Chapel, Gunnislake and Harrowbarrow and helped nearly 200 people a week.

The larder completed its final run this week; the new Community Fridge behind the Co-Op store in Drakewells will take its place.

Again run by the Tamar Valley Community Food Project, with support from LiveWest, the fridge will be opened in May, be available seven days a week and its primary purpose will not be to act as a foodbank but instead to reduce food waste. Donations for the fridge will be given by the Co-Op, Tesco in Callington and local residents who wish to help.

The Callington Soup Run, which helps those in local areas every five weeks with food and support, has recently seen a 40% increase in the number of people they are serving.

Cornwall County councillor for Callington and St Dominic Andrew Long is committed to fighting food poverty and is continuing to tackle the issue. As well as securing the recent opening of a PL12 community fridge in Saltash in conjunction with the Co-Op, he has outlined prospective plans to source a vehicle for a voluntary group to utilise which would complete a nightly drop of food to one of the five towns in South East Cornwall, working in tandem with the foodbank and community fridge.

Cllr Long said: ‘People are really struggling. Feeding students at our universities and educational institutions who have to make a choice between whether they heat or eat because they can only afford one of the two is a tragedy for us as the fifth richest country in the world. What a sad situation we are in, we can’t sit by and watch this happen.’

Alex Polglase is Calstock Parish councillor, co-ordinator of the Callington foodbank and co-chair of tamar valley community food project.

For a further breakdown of data on foodbank use in the county in contrast to larger areas, read an extension to this article here: https://www.tavistock-today.co.uk/food-resources-in-the-tamar-valley-and-wider-foodbank-use-563028