A pantry hosted at The Saints Pub in Millbrook is celebrating a successful year of providing food and household goods to the community.

Chapter Eight Foundation – backed by co-founders Stuart Bridle, Louis Moody, Aaron Hale, Michael Smith and Nathan Challis – initially ran the food bank as a one-off in October 2023.

But it soon moved to a monthly schedule after seeing the demand at its first event.

Co-founder Stuart said: “The five of us got together and we could see within the community that they needed a little bit of help, especially since we just passed lockdown, a few people were struggling.

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"The main aim was to back smaller projects or charities that didn’t get the backing and the advertisement that the bigger ones did, we try to keep it local and in the Millbrook community.”

Chapter Eight Foundation first gathered funds with a charity boxing night and a golf day, before two of their members joined the Saints of Southampton in a 340-mile bicycle ride to Amsterdam which raised £12,725. 

Feedback received from Chapter Eight Foundation's anonymous feedback box left out at their pantries.Feedback received from Chapter Eight Foundation's anonymous feedback box left out at their pantries. (Image: Chapter Eight Foundation)

Co-founder Louis Moody said: “The five founders, all of us are local lads, Millbrook born and bred.

“We raise the money, so then we go shopping with it, whereas a lot of other places rely on donations.

"We can decide what we put in there. We used to do tinned potatoes and jacket potatoes but now we know that our people prefer jackets, so we just do those, it’s all been trial and error."

Chapter Eight Foundation provided 45 Christmas hampers last year, all containing a gammon joint, traditional carvery vegetables and chocolate selection boxes for children.

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Stuart said: “With Christmas approaching, sometimes for parents it’s a choice between presents for the kids or food.

"Last year [with our Christmas hampers] we were open, but over a year on, we know the people that really need it.

"We’re not there to judge whether someone needs it, because you don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors and we aren’t there to ask, we will support anyone that needs it and turns up.”