Commissioner visits old Police station to see its transformation into community food bank

Police and Crime Commissioner Dafydd Llywelyn visited the old Police Station in Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire last week, which has been converted to a hub for the community’s local Foodbank.

Mr Llywelyn was in the Kidwelly area, as part of a Community Engagement Day, where he met with staff and volunteers of CETMA who are leasing Kidwelly Police Station from Dyfed-Powys Police to run a foodbank for local communities.

As well as running the local foodbank, CETMA are involved in several community projects with the aim of improving the local area.

The Megan and the Food Squad Project is an example of an educational programme developed by CETMA, funded by Sir Gar, and ran from the old Police Station, that aims to educate children and young people about the benefits of growing food, importance of healthy eating, and the effects of food waste on our environment.

Police and Crime Commissioner Dafydd Llywelyn said, “I am so pleased to see how the old Police Station here in Kidwelly is being utilised, and to see first-hand that it has developed into a vital hub for the local community, with its foodbank and community projects proving to have such a positive impact on the lives of local people.

“It is pleasing to see our Neighbourhood Policing Team involving themselves and engaging with the staff and volunteers in the area and that they have developed strong relationships with key partners in the Community, and I hope that the foodbank hub here in the old Police Station will go from strength to strength as it develops in to an essential resource for the area.”

Later on in the day, the PCC visited the John Burns Foundation in Kidwelly, to learn more on the community programmes they run that aim to make a difference to the lives of local people.

Melanie Jones Programme Development Manager at John Burns Foundation said: “Having been accredited recently as a Living Wage Employer,  we have met with the Commissioner a couple of times to discuss regional opportunities for employers, and we are grateful to him for visiting our facility here in Parc y Bocs, to discuss options on how we can work together in the future for the benefit of the community.”

Lead image: PCC Dafydd Llywelyn with CETMA staff and volunteers at the foodbank hub in the old Kidwelly Police Station (Image: Dyfed Powys PCC)