THE Vale Pantry in Sturminster Newton is expanding its services due to increased demand.
The social supermarket helps those who may be facing food insecurity or financial struggles, with customers paying a small membership fee which allows them to pick up a variety of items.
The pantry unveiled ambitious plans last September to move and expand its premises and it has now been given permission for a change of use to a commercial unit.
The community service is set to move from the Market Place in Sturminster Newton into a 3,500 square foot unit at the top of Butts Pond which will allow it to operate a new breakfast club and after school club for young people as well as opening six days a week.
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The new space will include an open-plan kitchen, a cookery education area to provide hands-on cooking lessons for both adults and children, a café, a soft play area and office spaces to allow for drop-in support services.
The pantry, which has been running since 2022, will operate as a main family hub for Dorset Council – a single place to get support for children, young people and families – and be able to offer 24 new services with a focus on early help, parenting and more.
Trustee and founder Carole Jones said the pantry is at capacity at its current premises and the move will allow the service to help even more people in the area.
She said: “At any one time, we are currently working with around 350 -370 families at any one time. As we help people get back on their feet, new households join, and our door revolves.
“We are at capacity in our current premises and have had to refuse a number of applicants from towns further afield and refer them to the food banks in Gillingham, Blandford and Sherborne.”
Ms Jones said the pantry is being increasingly contacted by adult social services to help elderly people in a crisis.
“Many have dementia and often don’t have the capacity to shop for themselves and have no access to money and this can cause an extra need in the funds we have to raise for items we have to purchase especially such as incontinence pads and more,” she said.
“We also assist those being discharged from the hospital – this group of people needs regular visits, and we would welcome new volunteers to help in this respect.”
Ms Jones said they would look to employ a youth worker and open the pantry during evenings to provide a safe facility for young people – but only if they can obtain further funding.
“This whole move to step up our offer is coming in at a huge cost with our initial build-out costs over £200K,” she said.
“Our ongoing running costs will also be challenging with rent, increased overheads and we really need to employ two further people to ensure we can run efficiently.”
She added: “Kim Voizey, our manager is one in a million and has the ability to be able to fix so many issues for people and she is ably supported by around 50 volunteers.
“Whilst I lead on strategy my time is spent writing funding bids and looking for every opportunity to bring in the money we need.
“We envisage our new overheads to be in the region of £350K per annum.
“We are so grateful to the residents in our community who make monthly standing orders to us, – this brings in around £40K each year but we really want to drive this and would love more help – we are open to anyone in North Dorset and we have a unique offer.”
There is also the possibility the new premises would the pantry to create new revenue streams through the café and letting the soft play area out for children’s parties.
I would be interested in helping the home from hospital scheme as I have done this in the past. I have worked with dementia also