As part of National Volunteers’ Week, FoodCycle volunteer Jane has set herself the challenge to volunteer at every FoodCycle Project in the North East – to raise awareness and to encourage others to get involved.
FoodCycle relies on their team of incredible volunteers to take surplus food and turn it in to nutritious meals, which are then given out to the community – helping to fight food poverty and loneliness.
Jane will be visiting all five Projects in the area and taking on a number of different roles including collecting food, cooking, welcoming guests and handing out food.
Throughout the week Jane will be helping to feed people in Benwell, Byker, Felling, Monkchester Road, Walker and Westgate. So far in 2021, these Projects combined have helped to feed over 1,106 people and saved 8.6 tonnes of food from going to waste.
Jane says: ”I started volunteering for food cycle because I had been made redundant and I like cooking and cycling. Over the last 18 months I have carried out nearly every volunteer role and I’ve learnt that what I like best is the teamwork and enthusiasm of everyone. We all pull together to use food waste and feed people. The online food safety training was great and has added to my CV.
What I really like about it, is that you get to see the impact you are making. You get to talk to the people that are using the service and it really does make a difference to them, not just the food but it gives them a reason to leave the house, to come and collect the food and also see other people, even if it is from a distance.
I’m looking forward to getting back to sitting down and talking with guests, everyone has a different interesting story or fact to tell.
I would encourage anyone who is thinking of volunteering to get in touch with FoodCycle – there really is a role for everyone.”
