CAMELFORD Community Larder held their first pay-as-you-feel event on Friday.
Led by founder Trina White, the all-female team provided items such as clothing, shoes, homeware, children’s toys, books and food for people to pay what they could towards.
One member of the team, Ayla Ackroyd-Johnson, said: “It’s going really, really well. I just can’t believe how much stuff we have been given!”
Trina added: “It’s being going really well, we’ve had lots of donations. A lot of it is stuff we’ve all had in our houses — it’s from here, there and everywhere. We’ve had a lot of people passing by putting money in the pot, and there’s been some who use the larder regularly.”
The larder has become so popular, that the team are now having to look at getting more shelves to house the food items.
Trina said: “We started up in October with just a few shelves. Since then we’ve had a massive response.”
The team stock up the larder themselves, with any donations to the project being used for a ‘weekly shop’ to stock varied collection of products, such as food, toiletries and sanitary products.
During the Christmas period, the larder was overwhelmingly busy, with Trina creating emergency packs for families that needed it the most. Amazingly, people from the community donated turkeys, items for Christmas dinners, gifts, toys and even logs to keep homes warm.
The only problem on the day of the event was getting rid of the masses of donated items.
Trina added: “I just hope more people come and pick up some stuff because we don’t know what to do with it after!”
The team, which consists of Trina, Jill Williams, Claire Misson, Heli Smith, Ayla Ackroyd-Johnson, Janna Hague, Clemmie Lessells, Charlotte Waldron, Emma Sennett and Lauren Rathbone, had been running the Camelford Community Larder Facebook page, with the event being the first time meeting in person for many.
“The planning for the event all started before Christmas,” they told said. “We were doing emergency packs and people were leaving clothes and toys, which we didn’t have enough space for.”
Ayla said: “The first person was here at 8.15am with donations, and it hasn’t stopped all day. I think we had around 50 bags altogether — we did a shoutout for men’s clothes, and received 20 bags. It’s been overwhelming.”
Jill continued: “I’ve always said, Camelford is the most generous town for giving.”
Ayla agreed, saying: “You can see what it’s like when you go along to these community events. Everyone comes together!”
Clemmie said: “We’d love to say a big thank you to everyone who donated, but also to the Old Bank who donated the venue to us today.”
With the team being delighted that they are able to help others in the town also comes the sad reality that there are still a number of families in the area that are struggling to make ends meet.
“You just don’t realise how many people need this,” they said. At Christmas time, emergency packs were delivered to around 50 families in the Camelford area.
Ayla said: “Half of us have never met, but we feel so close! When all of this first happened, you realise just how many people are struggling.”
Another local project, which will benefit the larder, is the Camelford street garden project, which Jill Williams is running, in conjunction with Tintagel-based charity Shires Holt Horse Sanctuary.
She said: “The street garden is also aiming to help the larder. This year we can get all the heavy duty stuff done, and then go from there!”
All money raised from the event will go towards the upkeep of the larder and purchasing food items.
To keep up-to-date on Camelford Community Larder, request to join their Facebook page.