Cathedral to help run food share scheme in city

A charity that distributes unsold, but still edible food from supermarkets to people in need has formed a partnership with Hereford Cathedral.

Originally called St Martin's Foodshare, the operation outgrew the church where it started, with volunteers also facing a huge increase in the amount of paperwork needed.

Now named South Wye Foodshare, the charity has found a new space at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs on the Belmont Road and teamed up with the cathedral for help.

"Our role is to quietly provide governance and operational support so that the incredible volunteers can continue to do what they do best and run the food share," said Kirsty Price, the cathedral's commercial manager.

Core volunteer at the charity, Cat Hornsey, said everyone involved was a volunteer.

"The biggest support that we needed was somebody who could come in, help us out with all those extra bits of paperwork, make sure that everything is OK legally.

"There are lots of times when the paperwork gets a little bit too much for us all to do, so having the cathedral on board and helping out with all of that is absolutely amazing."

The charity helps about 600 people in the city every week, providing free food, advice and company.

Price said is was very rewarding for the cathedral to support the service, adding that it is not just about the food.

"There are resources for signposting and referrals, it's such a community... for some of the service users, this might be the only time they communicate with people, or have a conversation."

Tom Milton is a community consultant who assisted the charity with their transition. and explained exactly what they do.

He said it was about redistributing food, so that every evening the food that is about to go out of date is taken and given out to people in the city who most need it.

"The rest of the food is gathered up and at the moment twice a week, that food is given out to people.

"There might be lots of vegetables, some cakes and some bread and some meat as well and all of that food gets given out to anyone who wants to come and collect it," he said.

"The food is still good, but the supermarket can't afford to hang on to it."

The South Wye Foodshare is open to everyone on Mondays at 11:30 BST at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church on Belmont Road.

On Fridays at noon at Belmont Community Centre and every day from 22:00 BST at Pomona Place in Hereford.