SIR: Last month marked the opening of an amazing new initiative called the Community Food Pantry run by Unit12, a Community Interest Company in Winnall, featured in the Chronicle last week.

The Community Food Pantry is available to everyone and is aimed at helping and encouraging households that need a little bit of support to manage and budget through these tough times. People pay a £5 fee and are able to obtain goods valued at £15 or more. The Pantry initiative is designed to support people with food deprivation, helping them to escape or move on from their current emergency or serious financial difficulty with a ‘helping hand’ approach. Working in partnership with the excellent Winchester Basics Bank, the Community Food Pantry also provides emergency food parcels.

The initiative is the brainchild of Elaine Chapman, a community activist and founding member of Winchester Mutual Aid, and Jamie Robinson, the General Manager of Unit12, who is proving to be one of Winchester’s most effective community organisers. These are the sort of community champions we should be proud of.

Winchester City Council - and in particular Cllr Paula Ferguson and Cllr Jackie Porter - deserve a lot of credit for the support - both financial and advisory - provided to Unit12 for this initiative, including a grant of £12,500 announced at last weeks’ Cabinet meeting.

Despite massive financial pressures following years of central Government cuts and the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s clear the city council are prioritising supporting people that need it most. Equally, the people of Winchester - with their generosity in terms of donations of food, money and time - have shown a deep reservoir of kindness and unity in our community.

The Community Food Pantry initiative is a perfect example of how a community can work together to support each other. This community-spirited philosophy will be central to our recovery after Covid-19 and it is very reassuring to see our city council and the citizens of our district are fully in tune with it.

John Tippett-Cooper,

King Alfred Terrace,

Hyde,

Winchester