St Peter & St Paul Rustington- Pantry

Pantry News December 2025:

Pantry:  

What a wonderful Christmas Pantry Party!!  We welcomed 60 adults and 20 children for a festive evening of dinner, carols, and a visit from Father Christmas.  It was a true community effort: Establo provided gift bags with toiletries and sweets, The Quill Pub donated festive treats, and Cuff Miller sponsored the turkey dinner. COOK shop added delicious desserts, and Santa’s gifts came courtesy of L. Guess Jewellers. A big thank you to Sula, Lucy, and Rachel for making everything run smoothly by serving the meal. And, of course, our fabulous team of volunteers who work so hard every week.  Thank you Lord!  Your generosity made this Christmas unforgettable – together we brought joy to many!  The Pantry gave out 80 bags of food this week, our cupboards are fairly well stocked following your amazing support.  We are just short of milk, tuna, hot dogs and biscuits.  Thank you so much for your kindness.  

The Pantry Team

St. Peter and St. Paul's Pantry in Rustington Church Hall has created a safe and welcoming space where people in our community who are struggling to get by can top up their weekly food supplies.  On 6th October 2021, the Pantry opened its doors to the community with tables full of dry food; and is open every Wednesday (at different times).

The Pantry is supplied with food items provided by the generosity of the Church's parishioners. We are also proud to work with some fantastic partners - the Butcher & Deli in Rustington, COOK in Rustington, the Littlehampton Community Fridge, Sainsbury's in Littlehampton and Morrisons in Littlehampton - are all playing a vital role in supporting the Pantry. During the lockdown many of these food suppliers provided good quality food to local families receiving regular food donations at their front doors. Our local food suppliers welcome the launch of the Pantry because they are driven to support local people in need and at the same time reduce waste and disposal costs.

The root of our action is clearly the compassion that our Church has for local people who are struggling to feed themselves and their families because their incomes do not stretch far enough. At the Pantry anyone can come along and access good food with dignity and choice (no questions asked). We are hoping this provision gives people the means to stay afloat in tough times.

Since the opening of the Pantry, it has been well used. This shows that there are a significant number of people in our community who are experiencing food insecurity. No doubt the lockdown hit some families very hard but our Church's provision of a Pantry is a testament that we are exercising our Christian calling to help people in need.

We also expect the Pantry to be a place where relationships are built and not just a place where physical needs are met.