Chelly Sturgess and Emma Cardoza took on the running of the project in late 2019 and were joined last year by a dedicated small team of volunteers. They currently help to pack between 70-100 food parcels each week, and this figure is ever-rising, says Chelly.
“Our involvement with Cultivate Cornwall began in June 2020,” she said.
“We realised that the pandemic was going to hit so many people extremely hard, including the Community Larder; donations had understandably slowed with the closure of businesses and many people on furlough.”
Having already been involved with FareShare, Chelly and Emma contacted Bodmin’s Fare Exchange, explaining what help they needed.
“John Lakey, who leads the Fare Exchange, is also co-leader of Cultivate Cornwall. A collaboration was forged and we haven’t looked back since!
“The support we have received has been invaluable, from regular deliveries of food, to helping us source funding, as well as checking to see how we are doing.”
Food supplies from Cultivate Cornwall can be a mix of ambient, fresh and frozen and have helped to make the weekly food packs substantial.
The Camelford and Neighbours Larder is also supported by weekly donations from Tesco and Asda, and donations of food, essentials, and money from people in the community: there is a Just Giving page which is ongoing and Chelly says the group is lucky to be well-supported locally.
Packs are also given out in Tintagel, and there, the group is working alongside The Neighbourhood Community Cooking Project run by Julie Potter.
“We supply some ingredients each week to Julie and her team to help them provide hot meals for the elderly or vulnerable in our communities, and we in turn receive a number of meals each week which we distribute with our food packs,” said Chelly.
“Julie is a wonderful supporter of the community larder and has done numerous fundraisers for us, she is a huge asset to our communities.”
Due to the lockdown and for safety, food packs currently have to be collected from The Old Bank in Camelford and from the Larder’s base in Tintagel: for more information, email [email protected] or send a message via the Old Bank Facebook page.
Chelly and Emma have big plans to extend the project: they’ll soon be announcing funding they’ve secured to create a community hub, where they intend to provide drop-in sessions for local people.
“Community is at the forefront of what we do, and to ensure nobody goes hungry.”