Community group delivers 100 tonnes of food to vulnerable families across Cornwall
That is since the start of the coronavirus pandemic
A Bodmin based community group has delivered 100 tonnes of food to vulnerable families since the start of the pandemic.
Cultivate Cornwall has also been getting free supplies to other projects that help locals living in food poverty.
Having built up capacity over recent months, with the support of Penmellyn Vets who have freed up an industrial unit, the team is now supporting roughly 20 community projects across Cornwall each week distributing more than 10 tonnes of food in a normal week.
After receiving a lorry full of food this is then sorted each week, with the items split between different community initiatives. The food is then collected by the community projects from the Bodmin hub and where possible delivered directly, delivered directly to them so they can distribute their communities.
The projects that Cultivate Cornwall have been providing food for are consistently feeding more than 1% of the Cornish population each week.
This includes thousands of food parcels, equating to roughly 30,000 meals a week (10 tonnes) which they in turn redistribute to people in need of support across Cornwall, including the more rural harder to reach communities.
“Coronavirus has brought new challenges for us all, we are just trying to make life just a little easier for the community during this challenging time. As a small team we wouldn’t have been able to get to this level of support without the huge amount of support we have received from those around us and all the new and existing volunteers that have joined us to make it happen.”
Co-founder of Cultivate Cornwall, Harry Deacon
Harry says they are now experiencing demand higher than ever before during the third national lockdown.
In Bodmin, within 24 hours of the lockdown being announced and with many people being put back on furlough, Cultivate Cornwall has seen a 25% increase in demand.
"We have heard similar reports from the projects we are supporting and are now looking to our next phase of expansion."
Harry Deacon
Cultivate Cornwall has ambitious plans and over the winter they hope to further increase their capacity. They are working with FareShare South West to make this happen. Soon they expect to be supporting up to 50 projects each week, with most of the projects already highlighted for the next expansion phases it is clear the demand is there.
"As we expand FareShare South West food distribution into Devon & Cornwall in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, it is a pleasure to partner with frontline community projects like Cultivate Cornwall. They know first-hand where emergency food is most needed in their community, and by working together we can ensure that food gets to those most in need. Since starting our partnership their team has distributed vast quantities of food- currently enough for tens of thousands of meals each week!"
Shelley Wright, Development Manager, Devon & Cornwall at FareShare South West
One of Cultivate Cornwall’s Project Managers; George Bewley, 23 says “Unfortunately, the services we provide are only growing in demand which shows the real impact of the way the pandemic is affecting those across our communities. We are now feeding thousands of people each week and the numbers are rapidly increasing.
“We owe a special thanks to the many organisations that supported us through funding, food donations and random acts of kindness. Funders include; Defra (through the COVID-19 Emergency Surplus Food Grant managed by WRAP), The National Lottery Community Fund, Western Power Distribution, Groundwork, and Tesco Bags of Help. A final thanks go to Penmellyn Vets, Fareshare South West and Re:act Disaster Response who have made this possible.”
“To ensure we can continue to deliver food parcels to those most in need, we are developing further partnerships with local and national food manufacturers and distributors along with other community organisations to maintain security going forward.”
George Bewley, Project Manager at Cultivate Cornwall