Harehills ❤️ Love

FoodCycle is a fast-growing organisation that is trying to change the world, one meal at a time.

It’s a welcome new weekly service in the area, every Thursday at 6:30pm there’s food and there’s conversation. The food is prepared by volunteers, (and volunteers are welcome, see below), from food that is surplus from shops and supermarkets.

All are welcome, no matter what walk of life you’re from, or what your reasons are for being there, you just turn up and take a seat. You will find people there from low incoming families, homeless, or people who simply want to connect with members of their community.

We live in a society plagued by poverty, but more than poverty there is also loneliness, FoodCycle is for everyone. It’s a wonderful sentiment they’ve made real.

It’s been going at St Aidan’s church since the end of September and seems to be a tremendous success.

I attended my first meal recently, so I can say for certain that it is a truly lovely welcoming place, I got to spend time with a variety of people I might not normally cross paths with, learn a bit about people’s lives, share a bit about my life. I live alone, so it was nice to have a meal in such a lively atmosphere, and the volunteers really try and take care of you there. I even got to meet and talk with Mary McGrath who’s CEO for FoodCycle, and The Revd Canon Andi Hofbauer (or Mother Andi), so that was a rare treat I might not have gotten to do had I not taken the step to go along and meet new people.

Food-wise it was amazing, had a lovely parsnip soup to start, pasta in a tangy light tomato sauce and green beans on the side, the dessert wasn’t my cup of tea, (it’s a personal thing I don’t like banana), but they saw that and brought me a bowl of berries, which was really nice of them.

Speaking with one of the volunteer hosts, she comes every week and she was saying how it invigorated her being involved with the team, and meeting so many new people.

FoodCycle only works thanks to its volunteers, working as a team in the kitchen, or hosting up front, welcoming and getting to know people, taking time to chat with everyone.

Cooking experience isn’t necessary, (but it’s definitely welcome), and there are non-cooking roles if you are not comfortable in the kitchen, you could host guests, or help collect the surplus food. They want as many local volunteers as is possible – so please do check them out and see if it’s something you want to help with.

Also, at the Winter Welcome, I got to sample some of their cooking, a gorgeous vegetable soup and some lovely pakora’s, and they were a delight, as were the folk from FoodCycle who were warm and friendly.

You can learn more about FoodCycle it’s events at St Aidan’s, and you can sign up to volunteer at their website.

FoodCycle Leeds also provided the food for the Harehills Winter Warmer at Banstead Park back at the start of December.

You can find all the released Advent Posts here: Harehills Good News Advent Calendar 2021