Who are we?
Hi, we're the Hope for the Community Project based at Sharon Full Gospel Church in Osborne Road, Pontypool Town Centre. We are turning the under-used space of the church building into a community hub and warm space for everyone.
Community Impact
Since 2021 we've hosted a (free) community cafe, given out over a tonne of essential food items, topped up the gas/electric meters of 100 families and fed a further 200 people during the school hols. We serve monthly community meals and host community events with a variety of community partners including Gwent Police, Torfaen Voluntary Alliance, and Communities for Work. In trying to bring the community together, our services have benefited families with young children, the homeless, the elderly, the isolated, those on low incomes, the disabled and their carers and just about everyone else! Picture below: staff buying items for Christmas food parcels for 30 OAPs.
Why are we crowdfunding?
During the cost of living crisis we are now opening now 5 days a week as a warm space, serving hot snacks and offering a range of meaningful activities. We are fundraising to upgrade our foodbank to a much fuller community pantry. This incurs much higher costs, as like everyone else, we are finding that both food and fuel bills have more than doubled!
How we’ll spend the money raised
We will use the money we raise to improve our food pantry and to cover the costs of increased opening hours through the winter. If there are any funds left after this, we will use any remaining money to continue our successful programme of supporting families with school-aged children during the holidays, by a combination of serving cooked meals and giving out food parcels containing enough for 2 meals a day for a family of 4. The packs include healthy recipe cards and all ingredients - a bit like Guosto but on a much smaller budget!