The 2nd Anniversary That Shouldn’t Be Happening

The Govan Pantry opened its doors two years ago as an emergency response to the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time, we considered this a temporary service – a project that would help tide people over who needed assistance during the extreme financial hardship caused by the pandemic and consequent lockdowns.

Instead of the service gradually winding down, however, the lingering effects of the pandemic and the new challenges of inflation and further economic upheaval have seen our membership grow. Not just grow, but skyrocket. Our membership, in two years, has grown to 2400 people – an average growth of 100 new faces per month with a regular weekly footfall of over 300 people per week. 

Right now, our experience is that families are struggling to exist – their quality of life is extremely low and it is having a major impact on family wellbeing. Parents are struggling with anxiety and this in turn is having a significant negative impact on mental health – perpetuating the downward spiral of trauma.

Fuel costs are equally spiralling out of control and leaving families with very little or nothing to live on. This, in particular, affects families with pre-payment meters where they are billed more than customers with monthly or quarterly bills.

Food inflation is driving more and more people to the Pantry. What we are seeing now is significantly worse than during the pandemic and there is no additional support from local or national government which was available during that crisis. Matters are further complicated by the fact that rising costs are reducing the amount of surplus food that suppliers are able to donate resulting in our own supplies being further squeezed – and at the same time, the goods we purchase ourselves are going up in price considerably.

Long term, the Pantry is not a permanent solution for families. It is a short term, stop gap measure to help families achieve savings on weekly shopping but it is not designed to feed families for a whole week. A holistic package of support is required to support families or nothing will ever change.

If you are able to make a donation to help us keep this essential service running, you can do so here: