Food4Crawley - working to fight poverty and food waste

Food4Crawley, which is run by volunteers, was set up by former members of Feed Crawley. The group is currently operating from 6pm on Wednesday evenings, from a marquee in the grounds of Tesco in Hazelwick Avenue, Three Bridges. They offer food which is still safe to eat, but would otherwise be thrown away because it has passed its ‘best before’ date.

There is a huge demand for the service - on January 31 families were queueing along the outside of the supermarket from 4.30pm.

Organisers said they’d had around 800 visitors the previous week, and about 400 the week before.

Organiser Ziggy Patel said Food4Crawley began on January 17, after they’d lost their previous venue.

“We had premises where we were able to cook hot meals and provide a pop-up shop,” she said. “That’s no longer available to us.

“Tesco have stepped up and provided this, which is only temporary - we’ve got it for another week.”

She said part of the idea behind Food4Crawley was to address the problem of food waste, as well as providing support for people who might need it.

They also provide an opportunity for people who dont get out and meet people on a day to day basis to have some social interaction.

“We’re hoping to educate people as well, said Ziggy. “Just because it’s got a best before date on it, doesn’t mean it should go in the bin.

“We’re doing jacket potatoes tonight, courtesy of Tesco,” she said. “For a commercial organisation, they’ve been flipping fantastic.

“Our objective now is to find another home.”

Ideally, they would like somewhere which has a kitchen, and can provide somewhere for people to sit.

Anyone who can provide the group with a venue can contact them via food4crawley@gmail.com

For more information about the project, visit: http://www.food4crawleycommunityproject.com/ or: https://www.facebook.com/food4crawleycommunityproject/

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