Frequently Asked Questions

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Penny Kemp's Community Pantry & Café is a charitable project, hosted at the Heart of Headcorn. 

We are dedicated to tackling food insecurity, reducing food waste and strengthening community cohesion by providing free food and well-being support to the wider Headcorn parish.

The Pantry is restocked every week with a focus on providing fresh locally sourced produce. Visit our News section to see examples of the types of food we have in stock.

The Café runs at the same time and everyone is welcome to come have a chat, whilst enjoying free coffee/tea and biscuits.

You can access our services every Sunday, between 11am to 1pm, in the Old Methodist Church, Headcorn, Kent. If you require help finding us a map can be found on our contact page.

Whilst we do have a notice asking for a suggested donation of £3, the food is  available for free. 

With the ongoing cost of living crisis we know there will be community members going through harder times, and as such, donations are not monitored.

We have community members from all walks of life use the Pantry. No one should feel awkward - remember that even if you have no money to donate that week - you are helping the community by reducing food waste. 

Everyone is warmly welcomed.

No

Penny Kemp's Community Pantry & Café is not a governmental or council service. 

It is run by local community volunteers for free.

You can visit us even if you have already used a food bank the same week.

If you would like to use the Pantry you can take a ticket number on arrival at the Café. One of our volunteers will assist you with this when you first enter the building.

Make yourself cosy whilst you wait for the ticket number to be called - free Tea, Coffee and biscuits are readily available. If you've not been offered a drink on your arrival do introduce yourself to one of our friendly volunteers, although it's likely that one of the other Café users will introduce themselves first.

Once your number is called make your way to the Pantry door where you will be given a single white bag. You can choose what you like from the fresh and refrigerated areas but we ask you consider others that will be along after your turn is finished.

Yes

Penny Kemp's Community Pantry was awarded a 5 star hygiene rating with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in December 2023. Our active rating and the reports findings can be viewed here. 

If you have a question about well-being, health, or just hoping for general advice regarding a problem, look for our Chatty Café Scheme sign which is placed on one of our tables each week. 

You'll find trained staff who will endeavour to best answer your question, or steer you towards a service that can.

The Pantry & Café is so much more than food waste reduction with a social warm space. 

We are about ideas and events that can help foster well-being, education and empowerment for the local Headcorn community. 

Below are some examples of additional projects we have run since launch.

• DofE Assessors - We are proud to congratulate Tia on her successful Silver DofE Award she completed with us in 2024. We have new DofE entrants starting with us spring 2025. 

• Shiatsu Massage Event - During the summer we were able to offer multiple Shiatsu well-being massage experiences in partnership with The Shiatsu Room for the Headcorn community. Due to it's success we aim to reintroduce more sessions spring 2025.

• Brownies Experience Day - We had a team from Headcorn Brownies come and gain experince by helping run a Pantry & Café session.

• Christmas Dinner Event 2023 - We partnered with Shepherd's Pantry to provide a Christmas dinner for those less fortunate / alone Christmas day.

• Christmas Dinner Event 2024 - We partnered with Curbside Chef to provide a Christmas dinner for those less fortunate / alone Christmas day.

• School Dinner Support - During the summer recess 2024 we sourced and delivered food trays to help support families who were missing the regular term time school dinners.

• Work Experience - Provided opportunities for younger kids to come and get involved with our different services so they could gain some work experience.

• Emergency Food Box Drops - We have been sourcing and delivering a growing number of discretionary food box deliveries to support families and individuals in emergency situations.