Eden Community Pantry

Welcomes everyone to come and enjoy a cuppa and chat and purchase produce at budget prices. Thursdays 10am-1pm and 2nd Saturday of the month 10am-12 noon. Come along and have a look, get some good food at a budget rescue prices and have a cuppa while you're there.  Bring your shopping bags. 
Uniting Church Hall, 20 Chandos St. Eden 2551    

The pantry aims at community building and to help people stretch their budgets to include basic food.

Food at the Pantry is received from a charity called Foodbank and other donations and is available to 'shoppers'. Each item received in the Pantry is allocated a ‘purchase price’ which is simply on a cost recovery basis. Shopping at the Community Pantry removes the ‘hand out’ element that sometimes is associated with charity. Dignity and self-esteem are important in the philosophy of Community Pantries.

The pantry is enabled by a group of church and community volunteers who are engaged in roles including hospitality, ordering, stacking shelves and sales. Community-minded volunteers are also encouraged to assist with morning tea and to sensitively welcome shoppers so that strong feelings of belonging are fostered.

Everyone is welcome with no membership process for people to fill-in before shopping at the Eden Community Pantry.

A broad cross-section of grocery items is offered with a total shopping bill well below the normal retail price. Also, there is often free bread and meat as well as some fresh fruit and vegetables. These are supplied by OzHarvest, Woolworths Fresh Food Rescue, Aldi, Coles SecondBite or, in the case of fruit, vegetables or meat, the generosity of local growers, hunters and farmers.

Community Pantries have consistently shown to have an insignificant effect on the profits of the surrounding retail outlets.  Community pantries have limited stock and limited opening hours and families still have to complete their shopping in the usual retail outlets.  

Eligibility Criteria

All welcome