Pop-up food bank to bring Christmas cheer
With Welshpool’s Food Bank closing back in August, well-known anti-food-poverty-champion Corey Eadson has announced that the Andrew’s chain of eateries is leading a temporary fix that could lead to a long-term solution.
Speaking to Welshpool Town Council last night, Mr Eadson said that the plan is for the enterprise to operate from the Andrew family’s shoe shop premises in Puzzle Square which are set to be empty until the New Year.
“We are trying to open a pop-up food bank for two months and hope to keep it going from there on,” Mr Eadson told councillors.
“It would be a food bank that everyone can go to and not governed by rules and regulations. It would also be available to the working class as well so it could be open in the evening.”
Mr Eadson said he would like to run it alongside the Council’s own Hub initiative that provides warm food from the Town Hall on Tuesday and Thursday lunch times.
“The plan is to work alongside what is already on offer at the Hub so we would like to do it on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday and people can come from all walks of life,” he explained.
The Town Council gave its backing behind Mr Eadson and Town Mayor, Cllr Bill Rowell, said he would call a meeting to bring together various organisations and individuals involved in combatting food poverty.
Cllr Carol Robinson said that she had already made herself available to help, while Cllr Alison Davies warned that the council’s own Community Fridge initiative had struggled to receive donations of left-over food from the supermarkets and coffee chains.
Mr Eadson has worked with the Andrew family in providing food initiatives over the past decade with free Christmas dinners and free school holiday food provided for children. And Cllr Phil Pritchard wanted to ensure that his work didn’t fly under the radar.
“This is wonderful news and good for this town,” said Cllr Pritchard. “This gentleman has been doing stuff for this town for 10 years and never advertises it, so on behalf of this town we should say thanks to him and the team at the Inglenook. He is not a quitter and will make this work.”
Mr Eadson added: “We’ll do it for two months and then if we can find a base we will keep doing it. We need to all work together and take that embarrassment away so everyone can come. It is important to give something back to a town that has given us all a living.”
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