Kevranna & St Ives Community Foodshare
Who we are and
What we do
Who we are
We are a volunteer-powered initiative and a non-profit group, focused on collecting, recycling and redistributing food waste and other items from local supermarkets, bakeries, individuals, restaurants, farms and businesses. Our mission is to reduce food poverty and food waste in our local community by taking food that would otherwise be going to landfill and distributing it to people who need it.
We run ‘St Ives Community Foodshare‘ but thanks to wonderful volunteer input and partner support we also run or support various other projects – Skill Share at our Wednesday, ‘Kevranna Social Club’ and Meal Share, bringing the community together to eat socially in various settings.
We chose the name ‘Kevranna‘ to encompass all we do, which means ‘to share’ in Cornish.
What we do
- We collect food daily from our 3 local Co-ops in St Ives after 9.15pm, also regularly from ASDA, Sainsburies, Tesco, local bakeries, restaurants, all food that would otherwise have been thrown away. This food is stored in fridges and freezers at our base at St Ives Rugby club.
- This food is offered out for free 6 x per week from 4 different collection points.
- We have a weekly social group called ‘Kevranna Social Club’ on Wednesdays at St Johns Hall, where we offer various activities and opportunities to chat and share skills. It’s at Kevranna club that we cook up meals for deliveries.
- We bring the community together to eat and cook socially in various locations.
- We have organised various events – Free for All events , Christmas markets, various crafty workshops, BBQ’s at the skatepark and sit down meals at St Johns Hall including a Christmas day lunch.
- We support those in need in the community by offering advice and signposting to other support services.
Our Partners
There are many organisations that have helped us through partnership, support and funding.
We would like to say thank you so much for supporting us with our various projects, for investing in our community and in a circular economy. We wouldn’t be where we are without you. Our 3 local Co-ops who we receive food from every single day, Fareshare and Neighbourly who arrange food for us from ASDA, Sainsburies & Tesco and the wonderful gleaners who collect a huge amount of fresh food directly from farms. St Ives Rugby club & St Johns Hall who have provided us with a venue to work from. Also those of you who have donated funding to us to enable us to extend our services. Have a look at all our partners & funders.
Our Volunteers
Without our amazing team of volunteers who give up their time to collect from the supermarkets, run the collections, help cook food, clearing and cleaning, driving and sorting, we couldn’t do what we do, so a huge THANK YOU to all you wonderful folk. We always need more volunteers so please get in touch or sign up to give us a hand, we have all sorts of jobs available.
Policy Statements
We are very serious about health and safety and have extensive policies and procedures to ensure that our volunteers, community and food are safe.
We are a registered food business, regularly reviewed by health inspectors and have a 5 star ratings.
History
It all started March 2020 in St Ives Community Orchard with a conversation between Elise Langley, Orchard project Manager and Martin Brownfield, manager of the local Co-op about what happened to the food that expires. Martin explained that unless a registered community group collected the food after 9.30 at night, this food was thrown away and not even the Co-op staff were allowed to take any of it. The desire to save this good food from going to waste has been the driving force behind all the group’s activities. The St Ives Community Orchard then signed up with Co-op foodshare programme which allowed volunteers to collect Co-op’s surplus food every single evening. The St Ives Community Foodshare group was set up in March 2020, as a membership organisation within St Ives Community Orchard. A core group which included Elise, Abbie Hichens, Jo Chatterley, Lucy Davis and Rissa Reyes started off just distributing it from the back of their cars from the orchard car park. St Ives Rugby Club saw these efforts and offered the use of their premises including their kitchen and large donated freezer which broadened the scope of what the group could offer. With this storage space, meat could be frozen and meals cooked up and could be delivered to those who needed it. A large grant was received from DEFRA plus funding from the St Ives Town Council, local councillors & Co-op and the group grew from strength to strength. Throughout 2020 and 2021 and throughout the lockdowns the group delivered meals twice a week to people and offered regular free food at collection points. Many individuals reported that their experiences of loneliness & social isolation had increased hugely over this time and to some people, the food collections were their main social interaction of the week and so the group then focussed on ways to bring people together. Since then it has branched out to support the community in many different ways thanks to wonderful volunteer input and partner support. St Ives Foodshare is now an Independent Constituted Community group separate from the Community Orchard although it still collaborates closely with them in many ways.