The Courtyard Pantry is now an organization in its own right. The charity is called The Courtyard Pantry Enterprise SCIO. Enquiries can be made to pantry@courtyardpantry.org.uk. You can find them on twitter @CourtyardPantry
The Courtyard Pantry is a community-driven project, operated by Flourish House. In 2016 we developed and opened our community café, in partnership with Queens Cross Housing Association, which serves as a meeting point in the heart of Wester Common, Northwest Glasgow. In response to the pandemic, we adapted the café to incorporate a food pantry and opened in March 2021.
During the initial phase of the crisis, our teams witnessed first-hand the hardship and challenges experienced by the local community as they struggled to access food, due to income reduction, shielding, health decline, isolation and fear. As we were uniquely placed at the heart of local food response, we felt we had to help, so building on our partnership with Queens Cross Housing Association and utilising our existing café, instead of closing this vital community hub, we reimagined our service to tackle food insecurity. We worked with volunteers and members of the community to provide over 5000 meals to local people who quickly found themselves in a vulnerable situation through the impact of the pandemic.
Our mission is to help tackle financial vulnerability by providing good food at low cost to the local community and create ‘Transitional Employment Placements’ (TEP’s) enabling members of Flourish House to experience paid employment, often for the first time, and supporting their journeys of recovery. We do this by working closely with like-minded organisations such as The Scottish Pantry Network and Queens Cross Housing Association to ensure that we benefit from the most up-to-date thinking and compliment local responses to community challenges, which were exacerbated by the COVID pandemic.