The cost-of-living crisis has hit an East Devon foodbank, prompting an online fundraising drive to raise £10,000 so it can continue its much-needed work, helping the community for free.
A vital food bank in an East Devon town is readying a fundraising push to broaden where it gets its income, writes local democracy reporter Bradley Gerrard.
The Ottery Larder, which is run by Dean Stewart, is set to try and amplify the profile of its GoFundMe campaign because of the inevitable rises and falls in external grant funding.
The organisation, which provides food and other items, including school uniform, to around 500 people per week for free has grown into an established presence in Ottery St Mary.
The Ottery Larder, which is run by Dean Stewart, pictured, is set to try and amplify the profile of its GoFundMe campaign because of the inevitable rises and falls in external grant funding.
Photo: Bradley Gerrard.
It started as a form of community response during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2021 helping at-risk and isolated residents get food, and developed into a more permanent presence.
It operates on a budget of less than £10,000 each year, with its biggest cost being rent, followed by cleaning and utility bills.
It spends around £1,750 a year with FairShare, which redistributes surplus food that would otherwise be thrown away, and secures donations of surplus food from local supermarkets.
But its grant funding has fluctuated, surpassing £11,000 in 2023 largely thanks to a National Lottery grant, but then dropped to less than £3,000 in 2024 before rising again to £7,500 last year thanks largely to the Community Fridge Foundation.
Pictured here are Ottery Larder volunteers Kay Dean (left), Jan Youngman (centre) and Jenny Rosenfeld.
Photo: Bradley Gerrard.
All tiers of local council – Ottery St Mary Town Council, East Devon District Council, and Devon County Council – have provided grants at various points too.
“I’m very proud of it, and I won’t be shy about singing its praises,” Mr Stewart, who is also the chief executive of Citizens Advice East Devon, said about The Ottery Larder.
“The main selling point is food waste. We don’t want to throw food away, because in reality, we are dealing with food poverty.”
The food larder provides food and other items, including school uniform, to around 500 people per week for free.
Photo: Bradley Gerrard.
To reinforce the plight in the town, he reads a Facebook message sent to The Ottery Larder by a resident asking whether they can pop in because they had no food left for themselves or their two children.
Mr Stewart said he opted against any restrictions or barriers that could prevent people from using The Ottery Larder, and believes the organisation also helps mitigate social isolation because many of its users enjoy conversing with its 64 active volunteers.
Around 400 people have registered to be volunteers during the life of The Ottery Larder, and have ranged from a 90-year-old resident to Duke of Edinburgh school pupils.
The food larder offers a host of help to the community.
Photo: Bradley Gerrard.
Mr Stewart and his volunteers believe they have handed out roughly 50,000 items of clothing in about three years – excluding socks and shoes – with pieces of school uniform being particularly popular.
Its GoFundMe campaign has raised over £5,500 in the years it has been running, but Mr Stewart stated a large proportion of this – around £3,500 – came in the first part of the Covid-19 lockdown, since when funds have been trickling in.
Any money raised would help ensure it can continue providing the likes of food and clothes to those who use it, as well as books and children’s toys.
It also has to cover rent, a £125-per-month electricity bill, and a £1 charge for gas every day, even though the gas boiler that powers the heating in the building it uses doesn’t work.
Also, the more money the organisation has, the more food it can buy.
“With more money, we can buy more food and hand it out,” Mr Stewart said.
Dean Stewart, pictured here, runs The Ottery Larder food bank.
Photo: Bradley Gerrard.
And there’s clearly demand, as Ottery Larder only produces the same food waste itself as around two households, and even its surplus bread gets collected and turned into fire bricks by a local resident.
The property that accommodates The Ottery Larder, a former school, has planning permission to turn it into three apartments, although that agreement includes a clause that means a portion of the building must be available for community use.
This means that where Ottery Larder hands its food out from could remain, but the rest of its operation, including the clothes, and its six planters outside where fruit and vegetables are grown, would have to be relocated.
Mr Stewart said he had started looking for alternative locations, but even the smallest available commercial property in Ottery St Mary – which probably wouldn’t be big enough anyway – would mean rent costs doubling.
The Ottery Larder’s fundraising page can be found here.
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