Comic Relief helps community pantry's 600 families
Tara Dolby/BBCA community food service says it is helping to feed more than 600 families thanks to help through Comic Relief.
Shirley Caxton, who founded the Jubilation Action Group in Bedford in 2022, said the £3,000 they were awarded in 2025 has meant "we can buy food at cost, direct from the supermarket to support families facing poverty".
The Community Food Pantry, which offers 10 items for £5 to people in Kingsbrook and Cauldwell ward, was started after an explosion in Redwood Grove where one person died and more than 20 flats were destroyed.
"It started as a response to an emergency," said Caxton. "We soon realised there was a local need to support other families as well."
Tara Dolby/BBCTrustee Steph Jacobs said: "We have more than 600 families on our books... it can be something as simple as an unexpected bill that brings them to us."
Red Nose Day 2025 raised more than £34m for projects tackling poverty in the UK and around the world.
"Comic Relief helps so many charities and, for us, we see the positive impact Red Nose Day is having locally," said Jacobs.
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