Tin on the Wall? I had no idea what it meant when I was first told that Llantarnam had a Tin on the Wall group.
To borrow a famous advertising slogan it ‘does exactly what it says on the tin’. Residents leave items of food on their wall (or outside their home) and they get collected to help people in need.
Its beauty is making it as easy as possible for people to donate to a food bank. How many times have you pushed your trolley out of a supermarket and spotted the food bank box by the exit? Residents in Llantarnam know that every other Saturday they can pop an item or two outside their home and it will go to a family in need.
Several volunteers drive around the area, spot the items and bag them in their boot.
I spent Saturday morning watching it in action and recorded a video (scroll down) to show what it’s all about.
Watch a video
The car drivers head to Llantarnam Community Primary School where volunteers check the best before dates on each item and write it on a label. The items are put in plastic boxes which have category names on them before being neatly organised on a large shelving unit in a school corridor.
Cllr Dave Thomas, Llantarnam Ward, was keen to point out that you don’t have to be a parent of a child in the school to get support. If you live in Llantarnam and are struggling you can get a food parcel. Cwmbran’s Morrisons store make a regular donation but he estimates that 90-95% of what is collected is from local residents.
Emily Boshein, from the school, said that if they have too many of one item they offer them out to other food banks in Torfaen. They recently had a large donation of sanitary products and shared them around other collection points.
Children from the school help pack the items into food parcels on Thursdays ready for delivery to local homes on Friday.
It’s a pretty slick setup. Cars arrived. Boots were unloaded. Trolleys wheeled away. Stuff checked. Date labels added. All done by a group of volunteers who just want to help others in their community.
I loved the description in the video of ‘We are like Asda’. They don’t want people to feel embarrassed by needing a helping hand, it’s as normal as getting a delivery from a supermarket to get you through a tough spot.
Follow the Llantarnam food bank’s Facebook page and send them a message if you or someone you would like a parcel.