Anglicare has opened its newest Community Pantry in the New England area this week—the third in the region. Nestled within Holy Trinity Anglican Church on Meade Street, Glen Innes, the pantry is part of a broader network of services that Anglicare provides across the region.
Claire Dunlop, Regional Manager for Anglicare New England, said the official launch was a warm community occasion.
“The launch was a wonderful afternoon. We had a sausage sizzle and many cups of tea with people from the community, the church and those who will volunteer in the pantry, and we sat down and celebrated all the wonderful things that we can do in Glen Innes,” she said.
The pantry, which soft-opened a few weeks ago, joins existing services in Tamworth and Boggabri.
“We do a lot of research before we decide where to open a service like this,” said Ms Dunlop. “We study the demographics in town and ask questions like, ‘Does the town need a pantry?’, ‘Do they already have one and if so, is there enough demand to support a second service?’”
For Glen Innes, Anglicare already offers counselling, domestic and family violence support, and financial assistance. Ms Dunlop said the pantry is another step in “committing to being deeply embedded in the community.”
Alongside the new food pantry, Glen Innes also now has an in-person mental health worker, Michelle Willmot, and a community chaplain, Daniel Hayes, both providing mental, spiritual, and emotional support to anyone in need.
The Community Pantry will open fortnightly on Mondays from 1.30pm – 2.30pm, with upcoming dates set for 1, 15 and 29 September. Run entirely by volunteers coordinated by Holy Trinity Church, the concept is simple: contribute $20 (cash or EFTPOS) and fill a bag with groceries of your choice.
“$20 essentially gets you about $80 worth of groceries,” said Ms Dunlop. “I have to give a huge shout-out to Foodbank, they provide the bulk of the groceries for pretty much all the community pantries in NSW. They don’t charge us delivery and they are just such a fantastic service, and we couldn’t do it without them.”
Importantly, there are no eligibility criteria to use the pantry. Ms Dunlop emphasised this, noting that financial strain can affect households of all income levels.
“People either don’t realise how good community pantries can be or they feel like there’s a stigma or a demographic bias that prevents them from attending – everyone is welcome and encouraged because it is not just about food – it’s about hope and spreading that hope in our towns.”
When asked to elaborate on the idea of hope, she explained.
“There’s a drought on hope in our small patch of the world, and here at Anglicare we believe we can make a difference. For us, as an Anglican organisation, we believe in hope in Jesus, but you don’t have to believe in God to access that hope. It’s more about forming connections.”
She added that isolation is a major issue in regional communities.
“Boggabri has become such a beautiful example of how things like community pantries can mitigate that. Going to the Pantry is not just transactional, it has become a real social event for the town where everyone gets together, has a chat, spends some time and forms connections.”
Anglicare is a Christian not-for-profit community services network operating across Australia, with more than 160 years’ experience delivering aged care, disability support, counselling, family and financial assistance, foster and out-of-home care, housing services, and community programs.
“We are deeply passionate about the regional and remote areas and are working really hard to support even the smallest and furthest flung communities in New England,” said Ms Dunlop. “It’s really about showing up, doing what we say we’re going to do and genuinely caring about the community.”
For more information about Anglicare’s services across the New England, call 02 6701 8200, email tamworth@anglicare.org.au or visit anglicare.org.au/NENW.
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