FoodCycle Leeds: Seacroft location added as charity serves up community meals and warm conversation

FoodCycle aims to repurpose food that would have otherwise gone to waste by making meals for local communities to enjoy together. It already operates at two sites in Leeds – St Aidan’s Church in Harehills and Hamara Healthy Living Centre in Beeston. Now, its team of staff and volunteers is also serving meals at the Chapel FM Arts Centre in Seacroft as its services in the city continue to grow.

Mathew Milner, FoodCycle Yorkshire and Teesside regional manager, said: “We are fortunate we are able to expand quite quickly thanks to amazing partnerships, including Surplus To Purpose who ensure that we have enough food across our three projects in Leeds, and also the people of Leeds that come out every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night to volunteer their time.

“We have guests from every walk of life with different motivations for joining us. Some may be homeless and experiencing severe hunger, or elderly and feel lonely, through to single parents who want a night off deciding what’s for tea and want to take their children to enjoy a restaurant-like experience.

"I really believe in the value of a dignified evening meal and that food provision doesn’t need to be a transactional service. I think there is real value of human connection over a meal – enjoying a good conversation with other people who are in our community.”

Mathew said FoodCycle aims to find areas where the charity can add value and provide a different type of help – a sit-down meal rather than vouchers, takeaway meals or food banks, which also serve their purpose. He added: “Even if you are struggling to heat your house or pay your bills, you can still have somewhere to sit down, eat a three-course meal, and speak to the volunteers.”

Volunteers arrive 90 minutes before the guests to decide what meals to make and get cooking that day. Depending on the venue, there is culturally appropriate food for the residents.

Volunteer Ade, who did not want to give her surname, has previously helped out at the Beeston base and joined Seacroft on the opening night. She said: “I just wanted to do something selfless and nothing about what I am going through.”

Much of FoodCycle’s operations depends on word-of-mouth, said Mathew, adding: “We never know how many people are going to show up, you can have a 10-minute chat with the pillars of the community who know everyone unknowingly and the place will be full. It is a tricky thing to control.”

FoodCycle Seacroft is inviting more guests to take advantage of the “tremendous kitchen and fantastic community space” at Chapel FM Arts Centre every Tuesday from 6.30pm onwards. Mathew said: “We have the volunteers, we have the food, we absolutely have the capacity for 30 people.”

He said he has heard the work FoodCycle does phrased as “not only the only hot meal someone may have, but also the only warm conversation”, adding: “The process of coming out to eat is just as valuable as the meal itself.”