Thank you FoodCloud for allowing us to volunteer for the day in your food hub and on the road. Last week we had the pleasure of spending the day with the inspirational brain-child of Iseult Ward and Aoibheann O’Brien –FoodCloud.
In Ireland, 1 million tonnes of food is thrown away every year. Through partnering with supermarkets and food distributors, FoodCloud helps redistribute food that would otherwise go to waste and deliver it straight to the charities and homes that need it. Since conception in 2013, this incredible organisation has managed to redistribute over 20 million meals.
After a quick tour of the offices by the lovely Melanie Allanson, some of us were dropped off at the warehouse where Hub Manager Ian McGuirk welcomed us and began to show us the ropes by putting us straight to work.
The warehouse, where donated food from the supermarket chains is stored, is run like any large retail organisation – structure, order, health & safety, etc. We were given an order sheet and started picking & packing across the three food areas – ambient, chilled & frozen food. You had to be quick – hanging around inside the freezer is not recommended! Eagle-eyed Ian was just like Santa Claus, he had his lists and checked everything (twice!).
Within hours we had picked & packed the morning orders charities had made via their online system which were now ready to be delivered by more volunteers. Emma Walsh popped down to see how we were doing too, but thankfully I think they were all pleasantly surprised with our work ethic!
I had the pleasure of hitting the road with FoodCloud’s longest serving volunteer – Sue, on her “Food Rescue” round. We visited four supermarkets and collected nearly a thousand euros worth of fresh food including €20 cuts of meat that would be in tomorrow’s waste bin if it wasn’t for Sue. Instead, we delivered all this fresh food and meat to one of the many worthy charities who provide their community with free cooked meals every day because of the work undertaken by FoodCloud.
It was both a rewarding and eye-opening experience which we would highly recommend to anyone who wants to donate time as a volunteer.
FoodCloud is always looking for volunteers and there are many ways you can help them so if like us, you want to do a little more than raise money for your Corporate Social Engagement initiative, I can’t recommend donating your time to FoodCloud enough.
To find out more simply get in touch with Sara.
E: volunteer@foodcloud.ie
