Shrewsbury Food Hub celebrates third birthday

Shrewsbury Food Hub celebrated its third birthday on Thursday with a visit from Lord Lieutenant Anna Turner and town mayor Peter Nutting.

Since launching in 2016, the food hub has also helped local community groups save more than 30 per cent on their food budget.

Co-founder Katy Anderson said the service now collects four times the amount of food than in its first year.

"It all started when we had a call from the Ark saying that a supermarket wanted to donate its leftover food to them, but they didn’t have enough volunteers to collect and only wanted food that they could use," she said.

"This proved to be a common story when we spoke to groups across the town. We hated the thought of good food going to waste.

"Food production has a huge impact on the environment, causing 20 per cent of greenhouse emissions and with a third of all food produced not even being eaten."

So Katy and a team of volunteers began collecting from Marks & Spencer in Meole Brace and sharing it between non-profit groups.

She added: "Three years on, our team of 100 volunteers collect from 17 stores every weekday. We have saved more than 110 tonnes of food and shared it between 56 community groups, including Food Bank Plus, Age UK day centres, Severn Hospice, school breakfast clubs and a whole host of other organisations.

"This free food saves our groups 34 per cent of their food budget, keeping their costs down and enabling them do more in their community."

The Food Hub relies upon an army of volunteers and generous donations to cover the costs which includes insurance, fuel, training and staff who organise the rotas, manage the volunteers and ensure all the necessary safety and food hygiene standards are met.

For more information visit www.shrewsburyfoodhub.org.uk or email katy@shrewsburyfoodhub.org.uk