As FoodCycle Wandsworth Launches Officially
On Saturday February 22nd, FoodCycle Wandsworth celebrates its official launch – and the whole community is invited.
A three-course meal will be cooked out of surplus ingredients from 1:30pm at Mushkill Aassaan, a community centre on Upper Tooting Road. The project in Wandsworth is the newest of 18 FoodCycle projects – tackling food waste and food poverty in communities across the UK.
FoodCycle Wandsworth provides healthy meals to vulnerable people at risk from food poverty and social isolation, with a particular focus on older people living in sheltered accommodation locally. Once a week, a team of volunteers collects surplus food from local retailers including Sainsburys and uses these ingredients to create healthy three-course meals, served in a warm and welcoming environment.
A three-course meal will be served from 1.30pm at Mushkill Aassaan, 222 Upper Tooting Road, SW17 7EW. Local MP and Shadow Minister for Justice Sadiq Khan will be in attendance to open the service and join us for lunch. There will be fancy dress gorillas serving tropical smoothies, a fun fact food quiz, competitions and a screening of documentary, Waste = Food, which will show during the event.
FoodCycle Wandsworth was set up with the generous support of Wandsworth Council's Big Society grant. FoodCycle is based on a triple donation model - surplus food, volunteer time, and spare kitchen spaces – to tackle food poverty and social isolation. FoodCycle Wandsworth works alongside local organisations including Transition Town Tooting and the Tooting United Reformed Church, who provided kitchen space for the first month as well as ongoing support. Sainsbury’s Tooting has been the main provider of surplus food to the kitchen. There’s also been huge support from local grocers and donations of equipment from the public.
Emily and Kemi, Hub Managers of Wandsworth Foodcycle said: “We are so pleased by the reception we have had by the community so far. We hope that more food can be saved and we can reach more people in the coming year.”
Mary McGrath, CEO of FoodCycle, said: “FoodCycle has grown so quickly since it began in 2008, and we saw the need in Wandsworth for what we do. It just doesn’t make sense for over four million people to be affected by food poverty in the UK when each year we waste millions of tonnes of perfectly edible food. We’re looking forward to reclaiming surplus food and turning it into tasty meals for those that need it most right here in Wandsworth.”
*FoodCycle Wandsworth runs every Saturday from 13:00-14:30 at Mushkil Aasaan (222 Upper Tooting Rd, London SW17 7EW). The project is entirely volunteer-run and new volunteers are always welcome. No specific skills are needed - just a willingness to get stuck in! For more information or to volunteer visit foodcycle.org.uk/location/wandsworth-hub www.facebook.com/foodcyclewandsworth
*A new kitchen for young people at risk of social and economic Isolation will open in the summer working with Lambeth and Wandsworth Youth Offending Teams.
FoodCycle builds communities by combining volunteers, surplus food, and spare kitchen spaces to create nutritious meals for people at risk from food poverty and social isolation. FoodCycle runs 18 volunteer-powered community projects across the UK, working to reduce food waste and to reduce food poverty and social isolation among vulnerable groups.
February 14, 2014