The Rotary Club of Westbourne has helped to support member of their community suffering from food insecurity issues by utilising surplus foods donated by one of the Clubs Business Partners - Harvest Fine Food.

In the year to end March 2020 the value of goods received was about £13,000 in total but since April the supply has increased considerably to over £16,000.

As well as residents, the Rotary Club has also help homeless individuals as well as multi-ethnic charity Unity in Vision, which the Club has close links to.

Rotarian Greg Singleton said: “Previously the surplus food would have been sent to landfill or otherwise disposed of at considerable cost to the supplier, so the project has always had environmental benefits too.

"The products donated usually have damaged packaging or are close to the ‘best before’ date. It is quite often bulk sacks of flour, sugar and other staples which has to be repacked.

"Sometimes items like cakes and biscuits are cooked using the ingredients and other times goods can be donated on just as they come in."

The food has since been donated on to food banks, community fridges, other charities and to individuals and families.

The Rotary group also recognised the plight of homeless people who were being helped off the streets into temporary hotel accommodation in April and agreed to produce meals for them.

Greg added: “Some had no money whatsoever and cooking facilities in the hotels were very limited, so we were asked to help.

“Eventually, the homeless people started benefitting from food parcels and some moved into permanent accommodation so no longer needed our support.

“However, a multi-ethnic charity, Unity in Vision, asked if we could help some people from the BAME communities who were struggling as a result of the crisis.”

Between Tuesday April 14 to Friday October 9, Westbourne Rotary have supplied over 4,000 daily meals and 840 packed lunches.

Although the majority of meals have been produced cheaply, some ingredients for special dietary requirements and packing materials had to be purchased.

The Club were fortunate to get consecutive grants of £2,000 and the £3,000 from local grant makers, as well as a grant of £6,000 from the Government and The National Lottery Community Fund, which will enable Westbourne Rotary Club to continue to provide meals until the end of March 2021.

During half term, the Rotary Club also had young people aged 13 to 16 years old from BAME communities wanting to volunteer, so an interactive activity was set up to not only help Rotarians but to plan and cook their own menus.

Westbourne Rotary President Lynne Abad said: “The Club really wanted to help when the Covid-19 pandemic started.

“We knew food would be a major issue and we immediately gave a grant of £2,000 to our local FoodBank but then, responding to need, we developed this our own niche project helping some of our most disadvantaged people locally.

“Now it has turned into a lovely multi-ethnic and multi-faith project.”