NEWS AND EVENTS

What a lot of new classes are happening at Unit 12! We have In 2 Heels on a Thursday evening 8-9 in Studio 4 starting on October 3rd. We have Clubbersice on a Monday evening in studio 1 from 7.30-8.30, there are sing and sign classes as well as yoga during the day.

Volunteer of the Month - September

The Community Pantry volunteer of the month for September is Margaret.

Margaret works in clothing on Tuesday and Thursday. She works hard keeping everything in order, so much so the manager rarely step foot in clothing these days as totally trust her to run things as the clothes guru.

She sorts all the donations to make sure clean and ok for us to have. She then decides what is for sale and what is for free and she is always super busy going back and forth to all the different rails in the building.

In July and August she also loaded up her car and took stuff off to the car boot and made £200 approx. She is always willing to help in food at the start of the day and make the first cup of tea. Margarets been involved in all the clothing sales we’ve had and the last prom event.

Lara, the Pantry Manager says she couldn’t manage clothing unit without her.

When asked why she volunteers Margaret said it’s mostly for the company of all of the people who volunteer here, and that her whole life she’s undertaken volunteering work and been a busy person.

Volunteer of the Month - August

Augusts volunteer of the month is Marga Lazar.

She’s a ‘behind the scenes’ volunteer but totally essential, but no photo!

She’s been with us from when we used to open on Friday nights, helping in pantry and supermarket pickups. She is now sometimes found in pantry on Tuesday evenings but is fully involved in evening pickups on various days. During the daytime she works and has a family.

The reason why Lara says she has chosen Marga is not just her long time volunteering but her absolute reliability. Lara knows if she sees her name on the rota Lara don’t have to give it another thought. “It’ll be collected on time, bought to pantry and put exactly where it’s needed. she does multiple pick ups every week and has done for years. She’s probably messaged me once/twice in all the time I’ve been pantry manager as she just ‘makes decisions ‘ Although I rarely work Tuesday night I know Houkje Lei also feels the same about Marga total reliability, the Tuesday team are an efficient self sufficient team” said Lara.

When I asked Marga why she volunteers this is her response

Because I can make a difference in one way or another just by giving up 1 hour of my time.

How brilliant is that I am happy behind the scenes:)

So Thankyou Marga !

Volunteer of the Month - July

Volunteer of the month this month is Steph Wrigley

Steph has been with the pantry pretty much from day1 back at the start, so over 3 years now.

She’s reliable, flexible and she knows the place backwards and just ‘gets on’ . But the main thing is that she is calm and unflappable, nothing stresses her out. She looks for jobs that need doing. But she is without a doubt ‘chief sorter outer’ if there’s a box of ‘stuff’ that needs going through, she’s the go to person.

On top of all that she regularly sells on vinted, making over £100 per month so valuable fundraising for the pantry. She also stored all the prom dresses in her home before the first event back in Feb. While the pantry manager was on holiday she ran a shift, and also did an induction of a new volunteer on the same shift.

So she’s a Star!

I asked her why she’s volunteered for so long. She says it’s like having a job and she treats it like work with same level of responsibility as a ‘real job’ . It gets her out the house where she’s mum to 3 boys, so gives her a role other than being ‘mum’

Volunteer of the Month - June

A new initiative by Lara, our Community Food Pantry Manager, is to have a volunteer of the month!

“I’m trying something new! Introducing ‘Volunteer of the month’ but it’s hard picking 😂

This month I’m choosing Elly due to the fact she’s leaving us for pastures new.

Elly started in April 22 with me on the weds night shift, was key with the setting up of clothing pantry in July 22. She helped on all clothing events, jumble sale, then moved to being food twice a week. She was always reliable, hardworking, polite and was amazing at helping our Ukrainian members, always so patient in helping them choose clothing and is supportive and empathetic.

She’s focused recently on our publicity and written some amazing pieces that have been published in all sorts of places.

During her time with us she started volunteering elsewhere directly with refugees which is her passion.

She’s now got herself a full time job working directly with refugees , so it’s a massive well done from all of us at the pantry. But best of all we are friends!”

Here’s Elly’s thoughts on the pantry and how it helped her

‘When I started volunteering with the food pantry, I had been out of work for several years due to serious illness; I had lost my confidence, and was very withdrawn. Being part of a friendly team of mostly other volunteers like myself helped me recover my belief in myself: I found that I could interact easily with members and be useful to others who might be struggling for various reasons. It was also encouraging to be recognised for doing a good job & being a dependable member of the team.

When the clothes pantry opened, I was the first volunteer to work closely with Lara the Manager, to set it up and run it two days a week. I am shortly planning to return to paid work after a career hiatus: I wouldn't have reached that point without volunteering, and in the process I discovered how rewarding it is to contribute my time and energy to my community.

Elly.

A big thank you to all our volunteers, but especially to Elly this month!

Volunteers being fantastic!

a big thank you to

Barrett david wilson homes

core logic southampton

Do you shop at Tesco? Please keep an eye out for the Blue Tokens and pop yours in the Unit 12 Slot to support the Community Food Pantry!

Thank you!

Cocktail Masterclass! - Postponed!

What a couple of amazing weekends!

First Lots of volunteers turned up to help clear the garden ready for the Rotary funded transformation which is on-going and then the following weekend we had a dozen volunteers help with repairs and decorating!

We would like to thank everyone who turned up and helped out.

https://www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/24159090.volunteers-band-together-give-winchester-community-space-facelift/