FoodCycle community meals project appeal for volunteers

The project opening in Stepney Green on October 30 is closed to the general public.

It follows another which has opened solely for refugee mothers with babies, which has opened in Dalston.

But another planned at King’s Cross on November 21 is open to anyone to pop in for a free meal once a week with “no questions asked”.

The projects are part of a network at 21 locations across London run by the FoodCycle charity, which has launched a recruitment drive for volunteers.

“Our service runs on the kindness of volunteers,” the charity’s London area manager Alix Guerber said. “So we’re asking people to give up a few hours each week.”  

Flexible volunteer roles open to anyone include co-ordinators, cooks, hosts and administrators, whether they are “food waste warriors” or a whizz in the kitchen.

The charity is striving to make food poverty, loneliness and food waste “a thing of the past” using the surpluses from the catering industry.

“Meals are made with ingredients saved from ending up in the bin,” Alix added. “We offer free community meals to anyone and no questions asked.”

The charity wants volunteers signing up online on the FoodCycle website to run the weekly sessions, including the Stepney Green project every Monday at 1pm for people living with HIV.

Within a mile of Stepney Green is another project open to the general public, at Bow Road Methodist Church in Merchant Street, Mile End, at 7pm every Friday.

Other projects in east London are at Pilgrims Way Church in East Ham 7pm Tuesdays, at Hackney’s New Kingshold community centre in Ainsworth Road 12.30pm on Thursdays and at St Mary’s centre in Church End, Walthamstow, 6.30pm on Thursdays.

Five FoodCycle projects have also been set up across central and north London, with a sixth opening November 21 at St Pancras community centre in Plender Street 5pm on Tuesdays.

The others are at Finsbury Park community hub in Corker Walk, 1pm on Saturdays, at St Paul’s Church in Rossmore Road, Marylebone, 6pm on Wednesdays, at Islington’s New River Baptist Church in Arran Walk, Canonbury, 1pm on Wednesdays, at Wembley’s Park Lane Methodist Church 6.30pm on Tuesdays, and at St Cuthbert’s Parish Church in Fordwych Road, Kilburn, 1pm on Saturdays.