FoodCycle

Summary Ankoor Patel, 26 from Lewisham, has been volunteering for the Imperial College FoodCycle group since May 2009 – the project combines young volunteers, surplus food and a free kitchen space to create nutritious meals for people affected by food poverty.

How I got involved...

A friend recommended I look at FoodCycle – it was a very new project at the time so I saw it as an interesting thing to become involved with. The concept is a great idea and head office provide training, support and advice – I thought that the project had a lot of promise to become something big.

How it works...

Keeping the project running has involved various things like marketing, running recruitment events, volunteer management, building relationships with organisations, administration and cooking - all the leaders act as chefs, managers and volunteers.
I usually cook twice a month and spend time organising the project throughout during weekdays.

The volunteers are a mix of students and external volunteers. We also work with farmers, Whole Foods and the Notre Dame Refugee Centre, who receive the food.

Making a difference...

Volunteering can be something that often pushes you out of your comfort zone - you are constantly driven to complete the task, see the results and look at the benefits.

The most memorable moments for me were after cooking sessions last summer when the volunteers would get together and have a meal, where we would chat about what we cooked and have a laugh.

There is a lot of potential for the project so you always want things to progress, which can be difficult with also having academic commitments and a social life. But it’s definitely worth doing because you get to do great things and meet great people along the way – you won’t realise it when you first start but you can see the change you’re making after a few months.

Case Study by Jennifer Harrison.