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Giving back to FoodCycle this Black Friday

In the current living in a cost of living crisis, charities like FoodCycle are more important than ever, working tirelessly to provide free meals to anyone who needs them with no questions asked. 

Whether someone is hungry, lonely, or just feeling down, FoodCycle is there to welcome everyone with a friendly smile and delicious meals, all created using surplus food by local volunteers. 

Inspired by the incredible work they do, we decided to get involved. Along with donating to FoodCycle as part of our Black Friday campaign, a few of us also joined the wonderful volunteers at our closest centre to offer a helping hand.

Below,  Lauren Jackson, Project Support Officer for Yorkshire and Teesside, explains a little more about FoodCycle, the work they do and how you can get involved:

Can you tell us a little more about FoodCycle and what you do?

Sure, so FoodCycle is a national food charity that runs weekly community meals free of charge up and down the UK. When we can, we use surplus food to make those meals so we intercept food that’s being thrown away.

We’re run by volunteers, so volunteers help us to make the meals happen – they cook with us, they host with us, they drive and collect our food. We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without them.

Lauren Jackson, Project Support Officer for Yorkshire and Teesside, FoodCycle

What do you love about working with FoodCycle?

I love that  it’s a real community project. Our focus is community dining, so we encourage guests to sit and eat with us and that’s kind of the centre of what we do. 

We feel like food poverty and loneliness go hand-in-hand, and actually if we can try and solve those two things together, then that’s really valuable for those communities that we exist in.

What would you say to anyone who’s thinking of volunteering at FoodCycle?

I’d say please come along! It’s super simple to sign up, and we offer a really flexible volunteering commitment so you can come as much or as little as you like. We won’t ask you to commit every week, and you can go to any location that’s easily accessible for you.

Dowsing & Reynolds staff joining the volunteers at their local FoodCycle

To find out more about FoodCycle, or to find a volunteering location near you, visit https://foodcycle.org.uk/.

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