Volunteers urgently needed for Peterborough food charity

FoodCycle, a charity which helps provide food for people in poverty in the city, have seen the number of volunteers in the city drop due to the COVID pandemic.

Now it is appealing for more people to help out.Without volunteers, Foodcycle cannot provide the vital service to the community who have come to rely on their weekly meals and food provision.

Since launching Cook and Collect in Peterborough, FoodCycle volunteers have saved nearly 4 tonnes of surplus food, which is the equivalent to 9,495 meals

Foodcycle volunteer roles in Peterborough are open to anyone who has some time to spare. Current roles include food collection; plus cooking or hosting at ‘Cook and Collect’ projects – a food takeaway service for members of the community.

Unable to bring people together through community meals for much of 2020 due to Government restrictions, Foodcycle also launched Check-in and Chat this year.

This service, where volunteers call guests for a weekly natter to help combat social isolation, is also looking for new recruits.

Those who are shielding, have been told to isolate or classed as clinically vulnerable should not volunteer. Those showing any symptoms, have tested positive or have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, should also not volunteer until it is safe to do so.

Some of the meals served up by the charity

To help stop the spread and to keep Foodcycle guests and volunteers safe, FoodCycle has introduced a number of new policies and procedures such as compulsory wearing of face coverings, hand sanitising stations, socially distanced queues and collecting data in line with track and trace.

Samantha Disney, East Regional Manager at FoodCycle says: “Being a part of FoodCycle gives our volunteers a real sense of purpose in these unusual times. People often sign up to give something back but end up staying because of how much they gain from it. Not only does it make such a huge difference to the people that receive the food but leads to our volunteers making friends and feeling part of the community. We really do need more volunteers to ensure that we can keep this vital service running.”

Foodcycle is currently operating at Park Road Baptist Church Peterborough for Cook and Collect every Monday from 12.30pm–1.30pm

For more information on Foodcycle Peterborough projects and to sign up to volunteer please visit http://www.foodcycle.org.uk/