FEAST helps local families and individuals on very low incomes by providing a range of fresh food and non-perishable groceries each week. We run two community larders, a hygiene hub (for personal hygiene and household cleaning products) and offer school holiday lunches for families. We are a registered charity.

FEAST was started by six local individuals who were concerned to see how many local people on low incomes were falling into food poverty. FEAST began in response to ‘holiday hunger’. Parents and guardians, whose children would receive free school meals in term time, were finding it hard to feed themselves and their children during the school holidays. Parents and guardians would often ‘go without’ themselves to feed their children. So, FEAST (which stands for Families Eating And Sharing Together) was born with school holiday lunches and activities for children.

One of the FEAST founders and trustee, Lee, tells the story of how she was moved to start FEAST:

Following the popularity of our early family lunches, it soon became evident that food poverty was not confined to the school holidays and that it was not only families that were struggling. This led the creation of FEAST Fresh larders. At our larders, local people on low incomes can access fresh food and store cupboard essentials on a regular basis.

After a short period of time, newcomers to our larders are asked to join as ‘members’. They complete an application form and we discuss their situation with them regularly, trying to signpost them to partners and local agencies that can help with other challenges. We often have representatives from other local organisations at our larders and our ‘guests’ are able to discuss any issues or challenges and access additional support where necessary.

If you have any questions or require further information, please do get in touch.