Devon & Cornwall Food Action
Millions of people across the UK regularly can’t afford to buy enough food to feed themselves and their families. While every year, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of good food is wasted in the UK food industry - from farming, processing and distribution through to retail.
Devon & Cornwall Food Action (DCFA) was set up in 2010 to save some of the surplus produce from supermarkets ending up in landfill, and at the same time, help to tackle poverty by using the surplus food to feed local people who were going hungry. Originally DCFA collected food from supermarkets and distributed it to charities and organisations who work directly with people in need of help. More recently, and particularly over the last year due to the vastly increased need caused by Covid-19, DCFA now distributes boxes of donated surplus food, directly to families and individuals experiencing food poverty. All the food is sourced from supermarkets and other branded food producers; edible food can be discarded by supermarkets for various reasons, such as oversupply, damaged or incorrect packaging, discontinued lines, or food which is close to or past its best-before date, but still safe to eat.
We may think that food poverty should not exist in today’s society, but unfortunately it does and Covid-19 has made the situation significantly worse. Low incomes, the uncertainty of zero-hours contracts and seasonal work, or unemployment and delays in receiving benefits, place huge strain on people and at best make it difficult to provide for themselves and their families, while at worst can lead to debt, family break-up, homelessness, dependency on drugs and alcohol or other issues. Long-term illness or bereavement of a family member can also have huge repercussions on a family’s ability to cope financially.
DCFA has a team of chiller vans which volunteers use to collect surplus food on a daily basis. The food is then sorted at the DCFA warehouse, which includes storing some of it in the new industrial-sized freezer and chiller cabinets. Boxes of food are then packed with a range of food such as vegetables, fruit, bread, eggs, pasta, rice, frozen and tinned food, pasties and crisps. Any food which is past its sell-by date or not suitable for human consumption is sent to Langage Farm’s anaerobic digestion facility where it is converted into electrical power, heat and bio-fertilisers which are used to run the factory and the farm. DCFA is not government funded so although all the food donations are free, it relies on fundraising, grants and donations to cover its overheads, such as rent, vehicle running costs and utility bills. Its fundraising scheme Pay It Forward, helps to cover the cost of delivering boxes - every £10 raised means someone in crisis will receive a food box to feed a family for a week. DCFA can also deliver boxes of basic household cleaning and sanitary products if required. Approximately 10,000 boxes were delivered last year to individual households.
Based in Roborough, much of DCFA’s recent focus has been on the Plymouth area, but it also provides relief elsewhere based on need and urgency, such as Princetown, Tavistock, Bovey Tracey, Torquay, Saltash, Callington and Liskeard. In addition, DCFA is about to partner with Dartmoor Community Kitchen Hub, which is based in Bovey Tracey and runs a hot meals service across the Dartmoor region for the vulnerable and elderly. The charity was founded by Stella West-Harling, who is its CEO and also the founder of Ashburton Cookery School.
Alan Dunne is the current chairman of DCFA’s active board of trustees. He is also extremely involved in the day-to-day running of the operation, and fighting poverty has become a very personal mission for him. He is no stranger to poverty himself, having grown up in a large family with an alcoholic father. Despite having a successful career in London, he has also struggled with addiction and went through rehab in Plymouth where he experienced his ‘lightbulb’ moment when out sailing, realising he needed to conquer this ‘disease’ and get his life back on track. Volunteering at DCFA provides him with the sense of purpose he needs, but his experiences also mean he understands the pitfalls of life and the harm they can cause. He is determined to do everything he can to help people in crisis, and he was absolutely delighted when Devon and Cornwall Food Action was named as the Chief Constable’s Charity of the Year for 2021.
Rosemary Best
DCFA is run by a hardworking band of volunteers, including husband and wife team, Peter who is 86 and Sheila who is 85. The huge increased need during the pandemic has seen up to 100 people helping out, however as people have gradually returned to work this number has decreased sharply - although the number of people requiring help has not changed. So if you can spare a few hours to help, please get in touch on 01752 651800 or info@devonandcornwallfoodaction.org.
You can also make a donation to help feed people in need at justgiving.com/campaign/PayItForwardwithDCFA