A new pantry-style foodbank has quadrupled its membership quadruple in six months since its opening.
The Woodside Pantry project is the first of its kind in Scotland, selling discounted products to people who are struggling financially.
It was established in the Woodside Community Centre by Cfine and its partners – including Fersands and Fountain Community Project and FareShare UK – with funding from the Scottish Government.
Its design enables staff to give those in need “a hand-up instead of a hand-out” and to design a “dignified” way for individuals to access food.
Claire Whyte, a development worker at the project, said the scheme was proposed after a meeting with Cfine.
A small team travelled to Manchester where a similar pantry-style initiative had been launched.
She said: “We took a few things from them and brought that back with us to Aberdeen.
“We looked at how it worked and how to run it ourselves, especially since this would be helping us tackle food waste and the stigma of going to a foodbank.
“It’s the ethos of the project – bringing dignity back to those who might need extra help.”
The project was officially launched in February and, nearly six months later, membership has quadrupled.
Around 30 Woodside residents joined in February, but its centre is now sitting at a 122 members.
The fee to join the pantry is £3 a year, with the addition of £2.50 per shop.
Every member can shop once a week, but the shopper or the household representative must be present at the visit.
The cost of the items in the pantry are determined by value, this way all members equally receive meat or fish, fruit and vegetables and canned food every week.
Goods are distinguished with triangle and circle labels. Each member is entitled to seven red circle items and three blue triangle items every week.
Mrs Whyte said: “Before we were seeing a lot of males using the foodbank service and we would rarely see families or pensioners.
“We felt like we weren’t accessing an entire demographic, just men in their mid-40s.
“Since the opening of the pantry we’re now seeing those over 55 and mothers with children.
“We try to bring that supermarket experience back to people. They get a raffle number and only allow three people in the shop at a time.
“We want it all to be equal. They can take their time shopping, look around and place things inside their basket.
“People using the pantry also have access to foods they usually won’t have at a foodbank, like meat or fish or chilled items.
“More importantly, we’re trying to encourage people to eat more fruit and vegetables because getting your five-a-day can be pretty expensive. The pantry can help with that.”
Cfine bosses have previously made their position clear on foodbanks – they are needed, but are not helpful as they “create dependency, erode dignity and change fundamentally nothing”.
The social enterprise has announced plans to roll out another pantry in Peterhead and in its Aberdeen base at Poyernook road.
Case study
Mr B had been a regular beneficiary to CFine when the Safe team reached out to him.
He had suffered multiple strokes in January 2016, and when he left hospital discovered he had lost his job.
Mr B was plunged into food poverty as he awaited his new Universal Credit claim to be accepted – adding to the stress of trying to manage even the simplest of household tasks as he recovered from his stroke.
Mr B is a registered paranoid schizophrenic with depression and suffers from erratic mood swings, and has panic attacks when he struggles to complete tasks he was capable of doing in the past.
He turned to CFine, who provided him with a financial capability officer.
It was through those discussions that the team became clear that Mr B needed much more financial support than Universal Credit could offer.
Staff helped him apply for PIP (Personal Independence Payment), which provides extra financial support to those who live with various health problems.
But Mr B had to overcome another problem before being granted the support – a medical interview, which heightened his anxiety.
An FCO volunteered to go to the appointment with Mr B and help support him through the process.
A spokesman for the Safe team said: “This actually moved the client to tears as the feelings of abandonment he had been experiencing were banished for a short while at least.”
Mr B passed the medical for the PIP benefit, and received a large back-dated payment which helped him pay off half his rent arrears.
Support workers also helped him negotiate with debtors, and got a large portion of his debt written off.
The spokesman said: “Mr B is still visiting us today and the difference in his mental health is very obvious for us all to see.
“The financial relief due to the extra benefit has helped reduce the extent of the client’s depression and his panic attacks are no longer the dominant problem they were.
“Client B is now on the road to stability.”
‘Invaluable’
Volunteers and members of the food pantry have called the service “invaluable”.
The shop is run by a small team of Woodside-based volunteers and is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Residents of the area queue inside the Woodside Community Centre from 3pm to 6pm.
Mum-of-two Rachael Youngson was one of the first people to benefit from the scheme.
She called the service “invaluable” and hopes the more are opened in the north-east after seeing the demand each week.
The 34-year-old said: “I was one of the first 30 that signed up when the project first launched and I now use it weekly.
“The three blue items are really helpful and it helps bring some variety into the shopping.
“Shopping here helps fill out the food shopping – maybe there are certain things I couldn’t get at the shop, but I manage to get here.
“The kids really like shopping here too, they get to see and pick what they want.
“I find the chilled foods, the meats and the washing powder are the most helpful. Especially the washing powder, household items like that go a long way.
“It’s invaluable and I hope there are more areas get their own pantry. I get asked by people about this and if there’s one opening in their area.”
Jill Bertam, 49, has been volunteering with the pantry since the beginning.
“It’s a great idea, we used to run the foodbank prior to the shop opening and it wasn’t as successful.
“The pantry has been really popular, especially with families.
“It’s such a good help to those one benefits. The food here helps you stretch your meals by two or three days.
“Everything in your basket we try to make sure is valued more than £10, that way you’re really getting a lot of value for £2.50.
“And all the money that’s made here goes right back into the community.”