Veolia UK and National charity, FoodCycle, have together launched a brand new food hub in the Yardley area of Birmingham. Volunteers at the new hub will take surplus supermarket food and turn it into free weekly meals for the local community. MP for Yardley, Jess Phillips, was there to officially open the centre last week, along with representatives from Veolia and FoodCycle.
Left to right: Sarah Servante - FoodCycle, Toby Terlet - General Manager, Veolia, MP Jess Phillips, Father Roy Anetts
The weekly feast every Wednesday hopes to feed residents at its new home in St Cyprians Hay Mills in Yardley with surplus food from supermarket shelves and cooking healthy, three-course meals for local people who are in need of a hot meal. The dinner also offers a great chance to meet other people in the community.
Anna Kulhavy, a hub leader at FoodCycle Birmingham Yardley said: “Since we opened the Yardley FoodCycle hub at St Cyprians, we’ve already got lots of regulars coming along each Wednesday to join us for a meal. It’s such a simple concept that helps to address some big issues in our community such as food waste, food poverty and loneliness.
Opening a hub in Yardley has been work in progress for nearly a year so the official launch is a big milestone. And it’s only been possible with the help of our partners Veolia, the support from Morrsions in Sheldon, the warm welcome we’ve had from the local community and of course the help of our wonderful volunteers who make the magic happen every week!”
The new opening represents the 29th project that the charity has across the UK providing over 750 meals every week to the public.
Toby Terlet, general manager at Veolia, community partner of FoodCycle Birmingham Yardley, said: “This is a great project that we are very pleased to be supporting. FoodCycle does a fantastic job of bringing local communities together with surplus food. We’ve really enjoyed helping the charity to get the centre up and running, and our local teams here in Birmingham are looking forward to volunteering in the coming weeks and we’ll be providing any ongoing support.”
If you know anyone who could benefit from a warm and welcoming three course meal, with some excellent conversation, please point them to FoodCycle Birmingham Yardley.
FoodCycle Birmingham Yardley isn’t the only hub in the city. FoodCycle Aston opened its doors in May 2016, and cooks fortnightly on a Wednesday evening.
For more information visit http://foodcycle.org.uk/location/birmingham-yardley/.