Haverhill food waste heroes have been putting smiles on hundreds of people's faces
A couple, who have helped to provide tonnes of free food to people in need over the Christmas period, say the appreciation shown towards them has been ‘wonderful’.
Matt Yarwood and Lauren Buckley have turned the space outside the front of their home in Dovehouse Road, Haverhill into an outdoor food store where hundreds of people have been turning up to grab items for free.
On Christmas Eve alone, Matt, 27, estimated there was between 8-10 tonnes of food stacked up in about 180-220 trays – and at the end of that day all that was left was a few bags of parsnips.
Lauren, also 27, said: “We must have seen hundreds of people out there on Christmas Eve. We were just chatting to everyone and everyone was so happy and so jolly and appreciative. It was wonderful.
“We both ache from lifting boxes and we are shattered, but it’s great fun.”
The couple, parents to twins Billy and Nina, who turn two on January 27, have been able to provide the food after signing up to be a distributor for a partnership between Tesco and Olio, a mobile app for food-sharing that aims to reduce food waste.
It does this by connecting those with surplus food to those who need or wish to consume such food.
The couple signed up to become what are known as food waste heroes; people who volunteer their time to collect excess stock from Tesco.
The retailer will call them and ask them to collect the food, with Lauren and Matt initially collecting from the store each Tuesday and distributing the food from their home.
Normally people request through the app what they want (volunteer distributors have to photograph the food they collect so people using the digital platform know what is available to order).
Eventually, as Christmas drew nearer Tesco began asking Lauren and Matt if they would be able to collect food more regularly – but as that was outside the agreement with Olio they launched a Facebook group, ‘Free Food in Haverhill’, to enable them to pick up more food and let people know what they had.
The group now has more than 1,100 members.
Lauren, who is expecting another baby in late February, said: “Tesco were ringing us on extra nights and saying ‘we have got food, can you pick it up’ and always we say ‘yes’, even if it is not us (other volunteers may collect it) because we don’t want it to go into a bin.
“We thought (after learning they had to stick to the agreement made with Olio) what can we do with it.
“We don’t want it to go to into bins, it’s perfectly good food and there are people that are struggling.”
Nina and Billy were born 15 weeks prematurely, weighing a combined 3lb 10oz and both have health issues, including cerebral palsy.
As a result Matt, who lost his job last year due to the pandemic, is now needed at home to help care for the twins, allowing the couple more time to give to distributing food.
But as distributors they also benefit, as Lauren explained: “We’ve got the time at the moment so we can help others while helping ourselves, so why not. We are allowed to take up to 10 per cent of the food.
“We know generally people come here and they are grateful and that makes it all worth it.”
Any fruit and veg that is left over is donated to the likes of Linton Zoo and Jaybeth Animal Sanctuary.