An Aberdeen charity has announced it will be expanding a pioneering food poverty scheme with a second location.
Following success with the first-of-its-kind Woodside Pantry, which launched in February, social enterprise Cfine is planning to launch another in the city centre with £75,000 of government funding.
Expected to open in early autumn, the Healthy Start and Smile Pantry will allow members to spend £2.50 each week to select 10 items from a range including vegetables, meat, fish and household products.
It has been designed to act as a “top-up” for struggling families, letting them buy nutritious food while sticking to a tight budget.
The pantry will also offer free toothpaste, toothbrushes and oral education as more than half of youngsters in neighbouring Torry have had tooth decay.
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Cfine chief executive Dave Simmers said: “Partners of the pantry projects believe that while food banks address an immediate need, they are not helpful in the long term as they create dependency and erode dignity.
“The Healthy Start and Smile Pantry will provide dignified, shop-like access to food and dental care products.
“Providing children with the very best start in life is crucial to improve life chances and the standard of living and wellbeing.”
Jonathan Iloya, NHS Grampian’s director of dentistry, said: “Children in Torry have relatively poorer oral health compared to their peers in more affluent areas of Aberdeen.
“An unhealthy diet, rich in sugar and fat is detrimental to the health and wellbeing of our children and is contributory to poor oral health.
“The Torry community should benefit from the proposed range of activities aimed at developing good oral health practices and providing access to a healthy nutritious diet.”
City councillor Lesley Dunbar, who also sits on the Cfine board, said: “As the first pantry has been such a success in Woodside, helping people access low-cost and nutritious food, it is great a second pantry is opening in another community in Aberdeen.
“The additional opportunity to get information and access to oral health education and advice is very helpful and addressing poor child dental health has been identified as a priority issue.”
