The food waste charity FoodCycle has launched a new branch in Salford to bring the community together and feed the people of Salford.
FoodCycle has been running since 2009 and turns surplus food that would otherwise be wasted into hot, nourishing, and wholesome meals free to the community.
FoodCycle is now serving a free 3-course community meal at 6pm each Tuesday at Langworthy Cornerstone Centre in Salford. Everyone is welcome to come along and join us for good company and a hearty meal! @SalfordFSN @SalfordFoodbank pic.twitter.com/jGUOhlYe3T
— FoodCycle Langworthy (@FCLangworthy) November 23, 2017
Ian Winstanley, the regional manager of FoodCycle North said that the charity is mainly run by ‘amazing’ volunteers who go and collect and then make the food.
He said: “It’s all vegetarian food so it’s all accessible for everyone and then we make a three course meal out of it.”
Langworthy FoodCycle opened its doors this January and is based at Langworthy Cornerstone, but another Salford branch is set to open in March at The Angel Centre.
The Charity has 34 projects across the country and is open and free to the public. Visitors can leave donations if they wish, but Ian stressed that there is no obligation to do this.
Although FoodCycle is open to everybody and aims to bring the community together it does try to cater to those most in need.
Ian said: “We aim to attract guests who may struggle to put food on their plates at home for whatever reason so if they are on a lower income or they don’t have the equipment or the skills to do it themselves.
“We also want to help lonely and isolated people in the community who might not get out much.”
The food that FoodCycle Langworthy receives is currently donated by Booths in Media City but the branch is interested in partnering with any small shops and cafes that can donate food on a regular basis.
@BoothsCountry media city are delighted to have partnered up with @foodcycle to help local residents and families in need ? #homeless #foodbanks pic.twitter.com/QBXggSo60z
— Colin Porter (@TCusExp) November 22, 2017
Approximately one quarter of all the food bought in the UK yearly ends up as waste and FoodCycle aims to reduce this by making the surplus food into wholesome meals. In 2017 they served 63,000 meals and saved almost 100 tonnes of food.
When the Langworthy branch first launched at the start of January they only had one visitor but that has now grown to 23 people in 3 weeks.
Ian said: “We had 23 people last week and a lot of them have said they are planning on coming back tonight, we aim to have 25 to 30 people visit every week.”
Since opening the FoodCycle Langworthy has had some brilliant feedback from workers at Langworthy Cornerstone.
Ian said: “Kelly, one of the workers came with a group of people she works with and said the food was amazing and better than some restaurant food she had tasted which was really nice of her to say. She said everyone was chatting away to each other and it was brilliant.”
FoodCycle is based at Langworthy Cornerstone in Salford and food is served every Tuesday at 6pm, everyone is welcome. The charity is always on the lookout for volunteers to help make the food and collect it from Booths.
For more information, you can visit the FoodCycle website here or follow them on social media
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