How FareShare in Barnsley is tackling food waste in Yorkshire
The charity sends the food donations to projects like FoodCycle. It has nine community meal projects in Yorkshire and provides a free, three-course lunch at the Broomhall Centre in Sheffield every Wednesday. FoodCycle depends on its volunteers, who turn the donations of food into a delicious lunch. I was able to enjoy curried vegetable soup, mushroom stroganoff and apple crumble. Sophie Aoun is FoodCycle's regional manager for Yorkshire and helps to co-ordinate the weekly meals. She says: "It is bonkers frankly that in the sixth richest country in the world you have so much surplus food that is a biproduct of a badly designed food system. Yet there's also still this food poverty."
Sophie works alongside Saffron Knight, who has been volunteering at FoodCycle for three months and is a part of the team cooking when I visit. Saffron says the volunteering is the "highlight" of her week.She says: "I was a nutrition student and really passionate about food waste and food poverty and trying to bring fruit and veg to people who might not have access to it. "After I leave, I'm tired but in a good way and I just feel really inspired."
Those who visit FoodCycle for a good square meal are positive about it too. Bryan Johnson, who has been coming for two years, says the project is "a win-win for everybody".Samantha Earnshaw, meanwhile, gives the meal "11 out of 10" but adds that she visits for "the company and the friends".Seeing projects like FoodCycle, which bring the community together while helping to tackle food waste, was inspirational. There is clearly a long way to go, but charities here in Yorkshire are working hard to help.Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ITV News
15 hours ago
- ITV News
Gaza is 'on the brink' but what does it take for famine to be declared?
The United Nations has warned that the "worst-case scenario of famine" is "playing out" in Gaza and the situation had reached a deadly point. The Secretary General António Guterres said Gaza was "on the brink of famine" but stopped short of formally declaring famine in the region. "Palestinians in Gaza are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions," he said. "This is not a warning. "It is a reality unfolding before our eyes. "This nightmare must end." The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) alert showed two out of three famine thresholds had been breached in Gaza and the situation had drastically worsened over the past few months. It has warned that failing to act would result in "widespread death". So why hasn't a famine officially been declared? When is a famine declared? Declarations are generally made by the UN using data and analysis from the IPC. Famine is defined as a severe, widespread shortage of food leading to malnutrition, starvation and death. For a region to be classified as in famine, it must meet these three conditions: 1) One in five households have an extreme lack of food 2) At least 30 per cent of the population is acutely malnourished 3) At least two people - or four children under the age of five - in every 10,000 die from starvation daily What is the situation in Gaza? Two out of three famine thresholds have been breached in Gaza, according to the IPC. Its data showed more than one in three people - 39 per cent - of the Gaza population had an extreme lack of food and were going days without eating. The IPC said more than 500,000 people – that is nearly a quarter of Gaza's population – were enduring famine-like conditions, while the rest of the population faced 'emergency levels of hunger'. According to the UN World Food Programme, every child under the age of five in Gaza - more than 320,000 children - was at risk of acute malnutrition. In June, 6,500 children were admitted for treatment for malnutrition, the highest number since the conflict began. "This signals a critical deterioration in nutritional status and a sharp rise in the risk of death from hunger and malnutrition," the IPC said. But the threshold not yet met, according to the IPC, was the number of deaths from starvation. Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry said 89 children had died showing signs of hunger and malnutrition since the war began and that 65 adults had also died from malnutrition-related causes since June. But the IPC said collecting robust data under the current circumstances in Gaza remained very difficult, as health systems, already decimated by nearly three years of conflict, were collapsing. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said no-one was starving in Gaza and that Israel has supplied enough aid during the war. How important is a formal declaration of famine? According to the WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain, waiting for a formal declaration of famine would be too late. "Waiting for official confirmation of famine to provide life-saving food aid they desperately need is unconscionable," she said. "We need to flood Gaza with large-scale food aid, immediately and without obstruction and keep it flowing each and every day to prevent mass starvation. "People are already dying of malnutrition, and the longer we wait to act, the higher the death toll will rise." The humanitarian director for Save the Children International Rachael Cummings agreed. 'If we don't have the conditions to react to this mass starvation, we will see this exponential rise,' she said. 'So we will see thousands and potentially tens of thousands of people die in Gaza. "That is preventable.' How can the risk of famine in Gaza be reversed? The Gaza population relies on aid and it needs more than 62,000 tons every month to cover basic humanitarian food and nutrition assistance, according to UN agencies. Following international pressure, Israel promised new measures at the weekend to help allow aid into Gaza, including pauses in fighting and designated humanitarian corridors. But organisations operating in the territory said "barely a trickle" of what was required had managed to get through. COGAT, the Israeli military body that facilitates the entry of aid, said more than 220 trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday. But UN agencies say that is far below the 500 to 600 trucks a day that are needed. Food is one thing but WFP and UNICEF have warned that the lack of fuel, water and other vital aid was also undermining their efforts to prevent famine and deaths. The aid agencies said allowing commercial food imports into the region was also critical to provide dietary needs, like fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy products and protein. Along with restoring essential services, such as health, water and sewage infrastructure. How many famines have been declared in the world? Famine declarations are rare. The IPC declared a famine in Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017 and 2020 and parts of Sudan's western Darfur region in 2024.
The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- The Herald Scotland
Marjorie Taylor Greene says there is genocide in Gaza, amid starvation
More: Two Israeli rights groups say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza Hers is an uncommon statement in a caucus that has rallied around Israel since October 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel has strongly rejected claims that the country is perpetuating a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Recently the Israeli military announced it would pause action in certain parts of Gaza for hours each day and increase aid drops in the enclave. Reports of mass starvation have spread since Israel first cut off supplies to the region in March, then reopened aid lines, with new restrictions, in May. More than 125 people have died due to malnutrition, including 85 children, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said over the weekend. A 5-month-old baby, Zainab Abu Haleeb, died of malnutrition at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza on July 26. In recent weeks, more than 800 people have been killed while trying to reach food, according to the United Nations, mostly in shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centers. "I can unequivocally say that what happened to innocent people in Israel on Oct 7th was horrific," Greene wrote in an earlier social media post over the weekend. "Just as I can unequivocally say that what has been happening to innocent people and children in Gaza is horrific." "This war and humanitarian crisis must end!" Her post on July 28 calling Israel's attack on Gaza a genocide was part of a direct criticism of her Republican colleague Rep. Randy Fine, who was elected in April to fill the seat vacated by former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. Fine, a Jewish member of Congress and staunch defender of Israel, has been outspoken on social media, denying the crisis in Gaza in multiple posts and writing in another, "starve away."
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
Award for Bradford breast surgery tattoo artist's work
The founder of a charity which offers breast cancer patients nipple tattoos after reconstructive surgery has been given a national award. Lucy Thompson, who runs the Nipple Innovation Project (NiP) in Cullingworth, Bradford, has received a British Citizen Award (BCA).The awards, dubbed the People's Honours, are for people who make an outstanding contribution to Thompson, who was among 27 people receive the accolade at the Palace of Westminster on 24 July, said: "It's the ultimate affirmation." The 35-year-old has been a tattoo artist for more than 12 years and set up the charity in 2018. "I run it on a volunteer basis," she said."We work very, very hard in and amongst our daily work and life commitments, to reach more people. "To have recognition, and an award, for all the hard work that we've done collectively over the past nearly eight years is just the ultimate reassurance that we're on the right track." About 300 patients are treated for breast cancer in Bradford each year, with the majority retaining their areola, the area of skin around the nipple, can be tattooed to improve its appearance after year the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust announced a partnership with Ms Thompson's mother-of-one now helps train other medical tattoo artists around the country through her charity. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
