Pantry serving and uniting Meredith

INSTALLED last summer, the Meredith Primary School’s community pantry could not have arrived at a more convenient time.

Principal, Steven Trotter said the town has always embraced the initiative, but demand has grown since the first COVID-19 lockdown when simple supplies, like kitchen staples, were difficult to find at the supermarket.

“We did a promotion over our Facebook page which really took off, and then all of a sudden we stopped having to stock it. It was being turned over very quickly and being filled just as quickly,” he said.

“People were filling the pantry as they’d go by, very respectful of the COVID-19 expectations and restrictions. Some were even putting toilet paper in there when it was difficult to get rolls.

“This was nothing that we’d ever asked for because the intention was for us to support and stock it, so the community didn’t feel like they had to replace the items they needed to take. So it’s been pretty remarkable.”

Heading back to school this week, the grade 6 student leaders are again monitoring the pantry and rotating the non-perishable items as needed, so products from the back move closer to the front and are seen.

Meredith Primary School is also part of the State Breakfast Club program, with donations from Foodbank.

In recent months they’ve been able to share this stock of food as only five per cent of students were on site, and Breakfast Club was quiet.

“We made up a heap of hampers and gave them to families, but we also didn’t want people to feel awkward about receiving donations, so we decided to do a pop-up shop over two Thursdays,” Mr Trotter said.

“We put out all of our Breakfast Club supplies on a table so people could take what they needed, or pick up food for an elderly neighbour down the road.

“It’s something we thought would go longer, but it got cleaned out quickly which is much better than stuff sitting on our shelves at school.”

Mr Trotter said action at the pantry and the pop-up shops shows the great need for community compassion when it comes to food accessibility in 2020.

“Our pantry is not something that is going to be empty every week, but there’s going to be times like when we went into lockdown or when we put up the pop-up shop, that it will be a really valuable resource.

“Other times, it will just tick over, and that’s fine. If it helps one family get through a weekend, or saves them a drive to the supermarket until they’re organised at home, that’s more valuable than it being completely cleaned out,” he said.

The school and local charity, Hands of Change were given a private donation from the mayor, Cr Owen Sharkey.

With the funds they plan to eventually relocate or redevelop the pantry so it is based at budding community hub, the Meredith Sharing Shed.

“We thought that would be a really good way to show what the donation has gone to; it’s a visual thing, it’s meaningful and it will support the community,” Mr Trotter said.