Pam – Volunteer

Pam has been a volunteer at FoodCycle Portsmouth for four years, racking up almost 200 hours volunteering with us.

She shares with us what she loves about being a FoodCycle volunteer… 

“I’ve been volunteering with FoodCycle for almost four years. It was my daughter that got me to do it. She was helping a friend at a FoodCycle in London one day and they had a huge batch of bananas donated. She called me to ask for my banana bread recipe but also said that I’d absolutely love it as I’ve always been someone who can create good food out of anything. I found out there was a Project in Portsmouth and that was it!

The main thing that brings joy as a FoodCycle volunteer is that you’re feeding people in need and the joy they get from eating tasty food. Since I was a child, I hated food waste and I love that FoodCycle provides a good way to utilise it. It was fantastic before lockdown, we used to get so much surplus food donated from local supermarkets and other organisations. Recently, having access to surplus fruit and vegetables can be extremely challenging so we’ve had to be resourceful.

Every week, once you see people fed its rewarding because you know that without us, they might not have had access to a hot meal that week. You get to know the guests who come every week and get to know their quirks. I’ve had guests tell me they don’t like vegetables, even though we serve a three-course vegetarian meal but come back!

At the end of the day, you get a sense you’re doing something worthwhile using food that would otherwise have ended up in the bin.”