Charity continues to tackle Food Waste across the city

Thanks to funding awarded  by Peterborough Council for Voluntary Service (PCVS) through the Peterborough Food Partnership (PFP) and Food Poverty Forum (funded by The National Lottery Community Fund), local charity Food for Nought is able to continue with its mission to reduce food waste by supplying any surplus to those in need​ across Peterborough, helping over 900 people weekly.

Peterborough-based charity Food for Nought delivers surplus food from local farmers and supermarkets to food banks and community fridges. Their activities not only help tackle food poverty but also have a positive environmental impact by redirecting food from landfill, in fact they have redirected over a thousand tonnes of food from landfill to date.

The current cost of living crisis, an upshot of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, has left more and more people experiencing food poverty in the UK and as a result, Food for Nought has seen a rise in the demand for their services. Yet at this pressing time, the charity has struggled to find funds to renew their annual van insurance and consequently, faced the prospect of being unable to deliver much desperately needed food supplies to local food banks and community fridges.

Cocoa Fowler who founded the charity said, “Our van insurance was coming up for renewal and sadly we didn’t have the funds to renew this. Without use of our van, we would have to halt all our deliveries which would have had a devastating impact on the vast communities that we serve locally. Luckily PCVS has been able to help us continue by rallying around to find us the support and funds we need, we are extremely grateful for this.”

PCVS has been able to help charities such as Food for Nought in this way as they were allocated part of the DEFRA funding that Peterborough City Council received to deal with the Coronavirus emergency food situation in the city and also through The National Lottery Community Fund, which has funded their Food Poverty Forum.

Zoe Dunstan, VCS Recovery Lead at PCVS says “We are delighted to be able to help Food for Nought at this crucial time to enable them to continue the vital work that they do for the communities in Peterborough. It shows true strength of our PFP and how working collaboratively in this way, the VCS sector has pulled through for an organisation that makes a real difference in people’s lives, supporting many who are in most desperate need right now”

If you are interested in getting involved and finding out more about PFP or The Food Poverty Forum please email communities@pcvs.co.uk