Volunteers Combat Food Waste to Support Families
Two women who have contributed to feeding "tens of thousands" of children expressed pride in their efforts to assist families facing the cost of living crisis.
Janet Leng, 75, and Marian Hodgson, 39, volunteer with the I Am Reusable food bank in York, where they redistribute food that would otherwise be wasted.
The pair have established partnerships with several schools, particularly those with higher numbers of pupils eligible for free midday meals, to distribute surplus food items.
"There's so much donated that there's often more than the food banks can cope with, and some of it goes to the schools,"Leng explained.
Collection and Distribution of Surplus Food
Leng and Hodgson regularly collect food from local businesses. This food may be lightly damaged, past its best before date but still before its use by date, or simply surplus to requirements.
The sources of these supplies include shops, restaurants, and train operators. After collection, the food is divided between I Am Reusable's food bank and partner schools.
"Working through the years with Janet and with certain schools we know which school would like each thing.
It's automatic, our brain says 'that needs to go there and that needs to go there' and if we get stuck we liaise with each other,"Hodgson said.
Support for York High School
One of the schools benefiting from this initiative is York High, which serves a pupil population among the city's most deprived.
Food donated to the school is used in breakfast clubs or as a supplement to school meals.
Longer-life products such as canned goods and cereals help stock the school's community cupboard.
"Janet's a walking, talking, living saint. Genuinely, the work she does is phenomenal.
I would imagine she's fed tens of thousands of students over the past few years.
She's there behind the scenes every day, picking up food items and dropping them off for vulnerable young people,"said the school's principal, Gavin Kumar.
Motivation Behind the Effort
Leng began collecting surplus food from businesses following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2021, motivated by concerns over a potential grain shortage.
"I told myself, 'You can't do anything [in Ukraine], but what you can do is do something in a small way to make the world a better place around you'."
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