Peckham food charity expands free hot meal and conversation services to extra day

A Peckham-based food and loneliness charity is doubling the amount of meals they are giving out from the end of April.

In addition to their Cook and Collect service that runs on Saturdays, FoodCycle will also run the service on Wednesdays.

The charity provides free hot takeaway meals which can be collected by anyone, with no questions asked.

Volunteers will also be available to chat to those who have been affected by loneliness during the pandemic.

FoodCycle aims to reduce food waste, food poverty and social isolation by taking surplus food and turning it into nutritious community meals.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the organisation changed their service to a Cook and Collect model. In 2020, FoodCycle cooked 74,073 hot dishes for the community and said hello to guests 21,231 times.

To help combat social isolation, they also launched their Check-in and Chat service, where volunteers call guests for a weekly natter.

Becca Ketley, Regional Manager at FoodCycle Peckham says: “We are thrilled to be opening up our second project in Peckham to provide double the free takeaway meals for the local community. 

“We look forward to further cementing partnerships with local businesses and most importantly providing a nutritious meal and friendly chat to anyone in the community who needs it, no questions asked.”

FoodCycle Peckham is located at All Saint’s Church, Blenheim Grove and willl run a weekly Cook and Collect service every Wednesday from 28th April from 5pm to 6pm and every Saturday 5:30pm to 6:30pm.

Pictured top: Volunteers Helen Waller, Jean Carlos Leao, Eva Markova and Nicky Hain