A social enterprise run by students has won a top award for its efforts to provide free meals for the community from food which would otherwise be thrown away.

FoodCycle Bristol, an initiative which helps to alleviate food poverty in the city, has served over 2,000 free meals from its base in the Easton Community Centre, where it operates on a weekly basis.
It was named Best Social Enterprise at the SETsquared Partnership’s second annual student enterprise awards.

The FoodCycle Bristol scheme was established by students at the University of Bristol in 2009. It has since grown and, in addition to serving free three-course meals to an average of 50 beneficiaries every Sunday, now runs a pop-up restaurant which charges £3 for students to ensure the project is self-sustaining. The pop-up restaurant started up in autumn 2010 and has since become well established, operating fortnightly and feeding 120 students.

FoodCycle Bristol is completely co-ordinated by students and volunteers from throughout the community who either help run the kitchen or transport the waste food to the kitchen using bicycle trailers.With over 500 volunteers, widespread engagement from the community and having registered just under £3,000 profit this year, they are hoping to set up a second community kitchen in the near future.

Adam Smith, Coordinator of FoodCycle Bristol, said: “Winning this award is a testament to the hard work put in by the team of managers over the last year and great recognition for the growth and development of the Foodcycle Bristol project in that time.”

Story originally appeared at: Optimist World

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