Photo: Volunteer Abi gleaning spinach and chard on a farm in Sussex.
I loved coming gleaning and seeing the process of saving surplus food from beginning to end. I’ve only ever worked in the Kitchen, who are cooking with the gleaned produce, so to connect the dots and see the farm where it came from, and how local and fresh it is, was an amazing experience. I’ve loved seeing how the Gleaning Day benefitted so many people in need and all of the members of the Surplus Food Network in Brighton working together.” - Abi
We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the generous 成人快手 Radio 4 listeners who helped us raise an impressive £61,748 towards our work on creating a fairer, more sustainable food system for all. We would also like to extend our sincerest thanks to Sheila Dillon (who regular listeners may recognise from the Radio 4 Food Programme), whose passion and enthusiasm brought to life Feedback’s decade-long work in the fight against food waste and food injustice – we are so appreciative.
The success of the appeal has helped us in many ways, including enabling us to continue our gleaning work across the UK. Briefly, Feedback’s Gleaning Network has been running for over a decade, taking keen volunteers to farms to rescue would-be-wasted surplus produce, which is then redistributed to local communities.
Recently we were notified that a field of surplus spinach and chard was at risk of going to waste in Sussex. We quickly rallied a small, Covid-safe team of volunteers, overseen by our Sussex Gleaning Coordinator, to rescue 65 kilograms of these leafy vegetables across two days – that’s around 500-600 portions of fresh vegetables that were redirected to people. For example, Abi, a gleaning volunteer, is also involved in one of the projects (an outreach kitchen in Sussex) that received this produce. With this additional spinach, she was able to cook up a delicious salad and stew for local residents, including refugee and homeless support services and a women’s refuge.
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Feedback Sheila Dillon presents the Radio 4 Appeal, 21 Feb 2021