Peterborough charity appeal for volunteers as community meals set to return

FoodCycle, which operates nationally but has a base in Peterborough is a charity that aims to tackle food poverty, loneliness and food waste in the city.

The charity was set up in April 2020, in response to the first national lockdown and aims to provide food and conversation to local communities across the country. They offer a Check in and Chat service to help combat the rising issue of social isolation, where volunteers call guests for a weekly chat.

A large part of their service also includes serving free sit-down community meals. These are now able to return following the ending of all Covid-19 restrictions.

The meals will be taking place every Monday from 12:30pm at Park Road Baptist Church and are open at all, no questions asked. The nutritious meals will be created from surplus food collected by the charity, which otherwise would have gone to waste.

The service performs a vital role in the community; according to FoodCycle, 62 percent of their previous visitors said they relied on the service and simply could not afford to buy food otherwise.

Inorder to make help with the running of these though, FoodCycle are appealing for new volunteers and Project Leaders. Flexible volunteer roles without a minimum time commitment are open to anyone and include food collection, surplus food coordinators, cooking, hosting and running projects.

Sam Disney, FoodCycle East Regional Manager says: ”We are thrilled to be finally returning to community meals in Peterborough, we look forward to sitting down with our guests and chatting over three courses of tasty food. Everyone in the community can come and join us, no questions asked. Anyone in the local area who has a few hours a week to spare and is keen to help their local community, we would love to hear from you.”

To sign up as a volunteer visit https://volunteer.foodcycle.org.uk/volunteer-sign-up or to find out more about FoodCycle, visit www.foodcycle.org.uk/.