News Park Wood Community Larder opens

A new Community Larder has opened in Park Wood at the Rosemary Graham Day Centre, Somner Walk, Park Wood, Maidstone, ME15 9PR for anyone in the Park Wood area who is struggling to afford to buy food.

Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) has created the larder which is open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 10am to 1pm.

Park Wood residents will be warmly welcomed with a hot drink and a smile from the team, and for a small donation of £3 per visit, they can choose up to 10 items from the store and two chilled items, as well fruit and veg.

Cllr Claudine Russell, Cabinet Member for Communities, Leisure and Arts at MBC said:

“The Council has secured funding through the West Kent Health and Care Partnership to open our second Community Larder in Park Wood, following on from the success of the one in Shepway. This is in response to health inequalities insight work with residents who identified food insecurity as their main concern.

“The first hour of opening on each day will be for local Park Wood residents aged over 65 years old. These opening times compliment the Shepway Larder which is open Tuesdays and Thursdays, meaning that we are now able to provide food provision every weekday.”

The team has worked with local supermarkets, restaurants, and Fare Share to provide the food.

Claudine continued:

“We are delighted to be able to open our second Community Larder, our first one in Shepway has been so well received and is used regularly by more than 280 customers.

“We know many people are struggling financially at the moment and not able to afford to buy healthy food. Everyone needs a little extra help sometimes so we hope this new larder will really help make a difference to the lives of those in most need."

The Shepway Larder has been open to Shepway residents since December 2022 and has already welcomed almost 1700 customers and distributed more than  11 tonnes of fresh and store cupboard food, for information visit: https://maidstone.gov.uk/home/primary-services/community-support/tier-2-primary-areas/shepway-community-larder

For more information about the Park Wood Community Larder email: communitylarder@maidstone.gov.uk or call Sara Shrager Project Coordinator on 07752 562575.

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