Drop in donations puts community pantry at risk

Volunteers at a community pantry say they fear they may have to close unless they can bring in additional donations of money and food.

Tina Sampson-Smith from St Paul's community pantry, in Norton Lees, Sheffield, said a drop off in donations and a rise in demand had left them in a precarious situation.

Asked how the coming weeks and months looked she replied: "They look pretty grim at the moment."

According to the Trussell Trust more than 2.2m food parcels were given out in England in 2025, a 56% rise on 2019.

Sampson-Smith said: "I looked at our freezers yesterday and the majority of them are off because we do not have the food stock in them.

"It's always tough from September to November, but this year is tougher than ever."

She said, in recent weeks, one day the pantry had 204 people turn up in need of support.

"Food poverty is really, really high at the moment and it's a never-ending battle to get food because our supermarkets haven't got the stock to give us," she said.

Co-founder Jay Judge said: "It's a day to day battle

"[There's] more and more people in food poverty, those that you see and those that you don't see.

"For every person that turns up at the pantry there's a family behind that.

"We might be seeing over 200 people coming through the door but it's feeding a lot more people than that."

Sampson-Smith added: "We provided school lunches during the school holidays, but at this point in time we've nothing in our freezers to do that for half term."

Jenny Farrall‑Bird, area manager for charity the Trussel Trust, said this time of year was especially demanding for food banks.

She said some families on the lowest incomes were going to have to make decisions such as whether to "prioritise feeding their children over themselves", skipping meals and choosing not to heat their homes.

"Food banks are really a lifeline for people in financial crisis," she said.

The rising cost of food has also led to a significant drop in donations over recent years, she added.

"Food banks are having to do more fundraising and to get income to buy food stock so they can pass that on to people."

Sampson-Smith said, as well as providing food parcels and meals, the community pantry also provide a space for people to speak with a cost of living worker and family hub workers.

Appealing for support she said: "We really want to continue. We don't want to stop what we're doing."