Food in Community was recently awarded more than £31,000 by DEFRA from their Food Charities Grant Scheme, to help with the costs of buying food from local producers for its recipients during the pandemic.
Food Minister Victoria Prentis said:
“Food in Community has been doing brilliant work amid a significant increase in demand over the past few months. It is absolutely vital they have the resources they need and this funding has helped them provide food to some of the most vulnerable people in Totnes, and indeed across South Devon, at this enormously challenging time.”
Co-director David Markson said, ”The DEFRA grant has enabled us to purchase food from around twenty local food producers at a time when demand from their hotel and catering customers fell. 100% of the money was to be spent on food for struggling households. It’s fantastic to be able to simultaneously support people in need of food parcels and businesses who are struggling financially due to the pandemic, local jobs and sustainable food production.”
Food in Community was established in response to food waste, food poverty and social isolation. Volunteers collect and re-distribute surplus vegetables, fruit and other fresh food from local producers, benefiting vulnerable households across South Devon. This has equated to more than 2.5 tonnes per week of surplus and non-surplus high quality food being distributed, generating a massive saving for local charities whilst enabling them to treat their beneficiaries to the best quality fresh food.
Co-Director, Chantelle Norton added, “More than 25 organisations across South Devon have received food for their recipients to date as a result of this DEFRA grant, in addition to the households we help directly. One organisation told us that their clients were delighted and that the food was helping enormously, especially with the young families struggling to access nutritious fresh food. Feedback so far from end recipients of the food is that they are really enjoying eating it, with one describing it as ‘A ray of sunshine delivered to my doorstep.’”