Improving the Rhondda - Food Parcel Collection

DONATE: HELP IMPROVE THE RHONDDA BY TACKLING FOOD POVERTY - money raised will pay for food parcels for Rhondda people who request them.

As the lockdown is eased, some people will be more aware than others that the pandemic is not over.

The most vulnerable people - those who have been shielded, have been receiving food parcels. They have been advised that they no longer have to shield beyond August 16th. We believe that this means that they will no longer get their weekly food parcel.

We are also aware of other people who for whatever reason, can’t get enough food. Predictions are for greater economic squeezes, which means that more people will fall into this category.

Prior to covid, the office of Leanne Wood in Porth had worked with the free-share scheme to offer free food to people who wanted it: this is food that the supermarkets would normally throw away. This food was provided on a non-means tested basis to anyone who could make use of it. (We also worked closely with the Rhondda foodbank to provide non-perishable food to them that they could make use of for people in need).

This scheme has to be put on hold when covid broke because it was not possible to do it while social distancing.

Social distancing is still an issue, but food poverty and food need is a growing problem. With the shielded group no longer having their weekly food parcel from mid August - and with supermarkets sending food to landfill if it can’t be distributed - all means we need to restart the scheme, but do it differently.

This is where you can help.

We need to raise money - around £5,000 should enable us to operate a scheme up until the end of the year.

We can then purchase extra items so that together with the supermarket excess, we can make up balanced food parcels for anyone who asks for one.

We will be relying on our team of Plaid Cymru councillors as well as the network of volunteers to both pack food and deliver it to people throughout the Rhondda.

If you can donate and also share this link on your social media channels, that would help this new project immensely.

Back in March, nearly six hundred people in the Rhondda responded to a call-out to sign up as a community volunteer, to be a part of a network to support and keep an eye out for others in their community as the covid pandemic took hold and people had major concerns about lockdown.

Some of those volunteers carried out weekly shopping and collected monthly prescriptions for their neighbours all the way through lockdown. This Rhondda network demonstrates what a fantastic community we live in. People here have been through so much with floods, precarious economic conditions, the loss of so many important local services - yet we still band together to help those who need it.

If you live in the Rhondda and you would like to be involved with this project in other ways, please e mail me - [email redacted]ru