On the weekend of August 21 and 22, the Sapphire Community Pantry in Bega was able to cook up warm meals for the community due to a series of generous donations earlier that week.
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Donations of excess fresh fruit and vegetables were received from Tathra Hotel, Tathra Bowling Club, Club Bega and a generous donation was sent down from Perisher by the Sundeck Hotel during the week.
"It was pretty exciting, you know, because accessing affordable fresh fruit and vegetables for organisations like ours is really hard, because of the cost of transportation," Sapphire Community Pantry manager Selena Purdom said.
Ms Purdom said the pantry usually relied quite heavily on the rescued fruit and vegetables from local supermarkets, such as Coles and Woolworths, but that it was such a "special treat" to receive the donation of high quality food from those businesses.
The Sapphire Community Pantry encouraged people from all walks of life to drop in, as "you don't have to be doing it tough to come in for a shop".
"It doesn't matter on your socio-economic standing, by shopping here you help support us to continue to be open," she said.
Ms Purdom also said they offer a more personal customer service approach, by interacting with their customers and giving people a chance to talk and catch-up while shopping.
"I think that during COVID lockdowns, the customer service and social side of coming to shop at the pantry is really valuable for a lot of people, who just don't get as much interaction anymore," she said.
The Sapphire Community Pantry is also thankful for the consistent and ongoing support from local donors, donations made from Merimbula's community pantry Sapphire Life Opportunities, and all the work from their volunteers.
"We have a pool of around 40 volunteers that do different tasks among the pantry and mobile pantries, without them, we wouldn't be open," she said.
The Sapphire Community Pantry is open Tuesday to Friday from 11am to 2pm and on Thursdays it stays open until 4pm.
It is located at 2 Peden Street Bega and is open to everyone.