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FoodCycle

England and Wales, UK

Type: 1

Main focus: Subtype: 1

Other areas of focus: ‘Check in and Chat’ service

Website: https://www.foodcycle.org.uk

Contact: hello@foodcycle.org.uk

Phone: 020 7729 2775

Address: Head Office: 2.16, The Food Exchange, New Covent Garden Market, London, SW8 5EL

We nourish the hungry and lonely in our communities with delicious meals and great conversation

About FoodCycle

WE ARE FOODCYCLE.

A national Charity that nourishes the hungry and lonely in our communities with delicious meals and great conversation, using food which would otherwise go to waste.

We currently have 45 different locations across England and Wales and we are looking to expand into more communities in 2022.

Week in week out; thousands of FoodCycle volunteers turn high quality surplus food in to wholesome, nutritious meals for communities to share.

By providing a safe, welcoming space to share food and conversation, we’re helping to strengthen communities and enhance the health and mental wellbeing of people from all backgrounds and walks of life.

At every meal, volunteers and guests sit down together to eat the meal together. Conversation flows, barriers are broken down and friendships are formed.

We work within lots of different communities and meet all kinds of people at our projects. Many of our guests include older people, people dealing with mental health issues, those affected by homelessness, low-income families, asylum seekers and refugees, and people who are long-term unemployed.

OUR VISION: To make food poverty, loneliness and food waste a thing of the past for every community.

OUR MISSION: Week in, week out we nourish the hungry and lonely in our communities with delicious meals and great conversation, using food which would otherwise go to waste.

OUR AIMS:

Connect communities
- Help strengthen and build resilient communities by bringing people together to share healthy, delicious meals.

Support mental health, wellbeing and reduce loneliness
- Enhance the health and mental wellbeing of all by creating welcoming spaces for people from all backgrounds and walks of life to have conversations together.

Nourish the hungry
- Improve nutrition and reduce hunger by cooking healthy meals for those in need, leading to improved food knowledge and changes in behaviour.

Promote sustainability
- Change attitudes to food and society’s impact on the environment by cooking with surplus ingredients.

Inspire change
- Share the virtues of our community dining model and the voices of our guests to gain greater support and speed our expansion, enabling us to help more people and more communities.

WHERE IT STARTED: our first cook took place in May 2009 and will always be remembered as a pivotal moment in FoodCycle’s history. After six months of getting the key ingredients of food, volunteers and a kitchen together, we knew we were on to something special.

WHERE WE’RE GOING: we’ve learned a huge amount since that first cooking session, but some things have always stayed the same: what we do, how we do it and the people we exist to serve. We are needed more than ever and we are opening new FoodCycle Projects across the country, bringing much needed food and conversation to your local community.