Pantry Parcels: A Community Fund Case Study
Student group Pantry Parcels (part of Enactus York) was awarded £500 of funding in 2023. They work in partnership with Your Cafe at Tang Hall Community Centre to run a social impact project in which student volunteers make meal kits from surplus supermarket food for those who need them.
The Community Fund enabled them to look at ways for the initiative to financially sustain itself. The funds helped to publish a recipe book for sale to students, generating income for the project. Funds were also used to buy slow cookers as the basis for workshops to help build more food security.
So far (October 2023), 5000 evening meal kits have been created, saving over 2000 kg of CO2 emissions. Feedback from the cooking sessions showed improvements in quality of life, helping those struggling with the rising cost of living to access nutritious healthy food. One participant said: “what you have done for the community is amazing. I see that it is going to help a lot of families. This was a brilliant, brilliant idea, thank you".