Bev – Volunteer

Meet Bev, a FoodCycle volunteer who loves nothing more than sharing meals and chatting with people in her local community! 

Bev, first got involved in 2023 as she wanted to help alleviate the loneliness she witnessed among people following the pandemic. 

How did you get involved in volunteering with FoodCycle? 

I started as soon as the Quinton project opened, just over 2 years ago (in 2023). I’m currently disabled, I’ve had 22 surgeries in my life and I‘ve got a fused ankle. I use a stick to get around and I’m waiting for a knee replacement, so being in pain is just a part of my everyday life. Volunteering has always been important to me as a way of helping other people. Helping people makes me feel happy! 

I’ve volunteered for my whole life doing different things, and I was volunteering at the local community hub, when FoodCycle came along. It was another avenue to help people through. 

During Covid I volunteered delivering food parcels to people. The amount of people that I encountered along the way, for who I was probably the only person they saw in that whole week, was particularly sad. Sometimes you were the only point of contact for some elderly people whose family lived far away and couldn’t travel. 

So for me something like FoodCycle, encouraging people out of their homes and back into a community with other people that they can share experiences with, was a fabulous idea. 

What were your first impressions of volunteering with FoodCycle? 

Awesome! It was great to meet like-minded volunteers who all have the same vision. We have an absolutely fabulous team of volunteers at Quinton FoodCycle. It’s great.  

Some people who come to eat, when they first come, they might sit on their own and don’t speak a word to each other, now they look forwards to seeing each other. It’s absolutely fabulous. 

Do you feel you’re making a difference in the community through FoodCycle? 

Absolutely. Covid was a pandemic, then we got over COVID and loneliness was a pandemic. Trying to encourage people out of that loneliness, it takes a little bit of time for some people, but it is working. 

I always make it clear to people it’s not a soup kitchen. It’s a meal in the community, for the community and everybody’s welcome. It’s amazing. For some people this will be their only hot meal in the week.  

Most weeks we have some surplus food left at the end and people can take away some bread, vegetables and stuff. That also helps because then they’ve got food for more days, and it just takes away that stress and struggle. 

I’m happy that people come to FoodCycle, they have a meal, they’re happy, they’re making friends, they’re out of their house, living like a normal human being. 

What do you enjoy most about volunteering with FoodCycle? 

The people! Hearing the stories of some of the people who come to eat with us is amazing, especially the older generations, it’s like talking to somebody else’s grandma or granddad and hearing stories from way back when. 

The food and the cooking are fabulous, but it’s the people who keep me coming back. I know they need this service, and without it some of these people have nowhere to go, and I look forward to seeing them. The fact that people have an outlet and somewhere to go because of FoodCycle is amazing. 

What would you say to someone who’s thinking about volunteering with FoodCycle? 

I would say come and give it a go. It’s not like going into a restaurant and working as a waiter or a chef. It’s going into a community of people who you can have conversations with and share a meal. It’s just about good, all round community spirit, and I think everybody should try it at least once! Even if you come once a month it’s something good you can do.