Celebrating success of new food hub

Since launching the local hub, one of national charity Foodcycle’s newest, in Sheffield last June, the branch has served over 700 meals, trained 135 volunteers and used up over 1,300kgs of food that would otherwise have been destined for the bin.

And now the hub has hosted an official community launch, to celebrate its growth and success, and to showcase what they do.

Ana Starkey, PR hub leader at FoodCycle Sheffield Sharrow, said: “Every Wednesday our amazing volunteers prepare and serve a three-course lunch, that brings a wide range of individuals from the surrounding community together around a freshly cooked meal.

“Each Wednesday morning we collect surplus food from local retailers and markets. What we receive from them is a complete surprise and, from there, we decide what to cook for our guests later that day.

“Our volunteers work as a team, to prep and cook the meal which is then served by our hosting team. Volunteers and guests eat together as a community.

“Our recent launch event was intended to showcase what we do and broaden our community outreach, welcoming both new guests and volunteers into our organisation.”

FoodCycle is a national charity with 29 project hubs all across the UK. It aims to reduce social isolation by combining volunteers, surplus food and spare kitchen spaces to create tasty, nutritious meals for people at risk of food poverty and social isolation. Since FoodCycle started cooking in May 2009, their volunteers have served over 125,000 meals made using over 146,000kg of surplus food – the equivalent saving of 657,000kg CO2 emissions.

Ana added: We’re all united by the simple idea that food waste and food poverty should not coexist.

“The hub is only made possible by our amazing volunteers giving their time, enthusiasm and energy. We have opportunities available for people to come along and cook, host guests and be involved in collecting the surplus food donations from local suppliers.

“You don’t need to have any previous cooking experience, although if you do, that’s brilliant. We want as many local volunteers as possible and everyone is welcome.”

Email [email protected] if you would like to register as a volunteer for the hub, or would like more details.