FOOTHOLD CYMRU HANDS BURRY PORT COMMUNITY FOOD STORE OVER TO THE COMMUNITY

A community store opened in Burry Port by West Wales anti-poverty charity Foothold Cymru, has been handed to the community. 

The Community Store was opened in 2021 by Foothold Cymru as a response to the rising cost of living and environmental issues facing society. Foothold Cymru, in partnership with Pembrey and Burry Port Town Council ran the Store with the support of a team of dedicated volunteers, who maintained it and served customers. 

The store, which supports over 100 families each week, offers the local community weekly access to great quality, healthy food for a fraction of the supermarket prices. 

Now the store is an established resource within the Burry Port community, the charity is handing it over to the team of volunteers to run independently, allowing the decisions about the resource to be made by the community, in the community.

Mike Theodoulou, Chief Executive of Foothold Cymru said: ‘Foothold Cymru used its knowledge of funding and it’s infrastructure to set up the much needed Community Store and supported the volunteers in running it. The volunteer team have done an incredible job and now it’s time for them to manage the store independently of us, because they are best placed to make decisions about the store that will impact the community.’ 

Dee Hamilton, Project Manager and Chair of the Store Committee said: ‘Without the support, knowledge and guidance we received from Foothold Cymru the initial set up and funding of the store would have been a much harder process to navigate. We’re glad that the Community Store is proving to be a valuable resource for the community and we’re looking forward to supporting the community over the coming months.’

The food is sourced from a variety of suppliers with a large element of it being surplus food from supermarkets that is still within its sell by date. This is supplemented by food sourced at low prices from whole sellers plus seasonal vegetables from local suppliers. As well as offering a low-cost shopping alternative, because the stores uses surplus food it’s also an environmentally low impact choice for the whole community, who have really got behind the store.

Dee Hamilton said: ‘We’ve had incredible support from local businesses and organisations like Co-op Burry Port, Co-op Stradey Parc, GI Carpets Burry Port, St Mary’s Church, Lighthouse Community Church and Pembrey Burry Port Town Council, to name a few. A huge ‘thank you’ to all of them for their support and helping to make this move to independence possible.’