Caring and sharing at Wick's Pulteney Centre – share shop leads the way to help people struggling with cost of living crisis. 'It's basically just the community helping the community'
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A visit to the Pulteney Centre in Wick showed how a free shopping initiative has gone from strength to strength over the past year.
Jennifer Harvey, development officer at Pulteneytown People's Project (PPP), talked about the share shop in the Pulteney Centre and how it had been born out of the desperation of Covid lockdown.
"We got food given to us during Covid and tried to distribute it as much as we could," said Jennifer.
"We're aware that there are families and individuals in need so we've kept it up and we're developing a much larger sharing area. We were getting food, on the back of Covid, from Cfine [Community Food Initiative North East] who get surplus foods from supermarkets and distribute it to community hubs."
Jennifer says she has now gone a step further with the initiative by signing up with Wick's Lidl, Tesco and Coop supermarkets to get their surplus food.
"Everything we get we put on display here for the public to help themselves to. And then we get donations of bric-a-brac, books, clothing, school uniforms, bags, pictures – it's basically just the community helping the community.
"People in need can come in and take what they want and they can leave a donation if they want. They can leave donations of money, food or whatever and put it in at the reception."
People are under no pressure to give donations if they are struggling however – they can just come by and help themselves to what they need. "There are a lot of families who can't make ends meet until the end of the month with the cost of living going up and we're here to help bridge that gap for them," said Jennifer.
Food that would otherwise end up in landfill is available along with a variety of children's toys that have been donated and many other items from lampshades to soaps and candles to keepsakes for the mantelpiece. "You're reducing greenhouse gasses, your saving money, diverting food from landfill – 33 per cent ends up in landfill."
Jennifer says it escalated from the early days of Covid lockdown to now include fresh products, some of which will appeal to those with special dietary requirements. "With a food bank you have to get a slip from a referral agency but we've none of that. You can just come in and browse around like any other shop. It's a very varied cross-section of the public using it and we want them to feel there's no stigma with coming in."
On the day we visited the Pulteney Centre, a variety of people were seen using the share shop. "It is extremely helpful and it's more than just food – you have books, toiletries and much more," said a local woman called Hazel. "I like the almond milk and my daughter adores it as well."
Two girls who attend Wick High School, Maryanne and Amy, also dropped in to see what was available in the shop. "It's quite helpful when you're low on money," said Maryanne.
Alison Banks is a senior support worker with Homelink which is also based at the Pulteney Centre in Wick and says that the share shop has been of great benefit to her service users. "We provide housing support to a number of different clients. Many of them struggle with managing their income so this [share shop] helps them out. We can take it to them but we also encourage them to come in and pick their own things. They're all very impressed with it."
The facility is open from 9am to 5pm on weekdays and 9am until 2pm on Saturdays. The hours may be extended on certain days if staff are available. The PPP is looking for volunteers to come and help at the share shop and with picking up food from the local supermarkets – drivers are especially sought after.
Pulteneytown Peoples Project is a social enterprise and a community centre. It is a non-profit organisation and any profit made goes back into the community and the facility.
