FOUR tonnes of discarded food destined for landfill are being transformed into a free lunch for 200 people every week, thanks to a food club in Ellesmere Port.

The Port Grocery makes 110 weekly collections from the likes of Pret a Manger, Marks and Spencer and Tesco before selling it via its community shop and serving it up as a free weekly meal at a Trinity Methodist Church.

Founder Rita Lewis says the trailblazing project is bringing together the people of the Port and helping those struggling with debt, mental health problems and poverty.

The project has grown from a five week pilot to a seven-day a week operation run by 10 staff and 55 volunteers with the church’s ‘Wednesday Welcome’ becoming a lifeline for hundreds of locals.

It provides:

• 12 hours per week of counselling sessions

• Access to a team of Wellbeing Coordinators from the 17 GP surgeries across Ellesmere Port

• Regular visits from Macmillan Cancer Support staff

• Free eye tests and glasses for rough sleepers and the homeless

Rita said: “We tackle food waste and food poverty but it’s so much more than that – we provide hope.

“We tackle social isolation by giving local people a place to come to get a hot meal and make new friends. We train up a wide range of volunteers including retirees who want to give something back, the disabled, those in recovery for alcohol or drug addiction or on benefits.

“The Port Grocery is a place where people can access debt, health and consumer advice without any stigma attached to it.”

She added: “The community spirit that has been generated is unbelievable – strangers have become friends, support groups for widows, cancer patients and diabetics have grown from it and the general talk around the town has become, ‘don’t worry if you need anything wait till Wednesday and they will sort it out for you’.

“We’re not perceived as the establishment, the council or Jobcentre; we’re seen as ‘those nice people who do the food’.”

Staff use two refrigerated vans to collect unwanted food from KFC, Pret a Manger and Tesco three times daily, totalling more than 110 collections a week.

The 300 food club members pay £4 a week and get £16 - £20 worth of fresh fruit and vegetables, frozen, dried, fresh and canned food from the community shop. Membership is open to all and there are currently 40 people on the waiting list.

Future plans include duplicating the ‘welcome’ events at venues across Ellesmere Port on a daily basis and using fruit and vegetables grown by staff and volunteers on an allotment at the back of Trinity Church in the community shop.

The Port Grocery is keen to hear from any business within a 20-mile radius of Ellesmere Port – with edible food that would normally go in the bin – to get in touch so they can recycle it.

To find out more email admin@theportgrocery.org or check out www.facebook.com/ThePortGroceryCIC/ and https://twitter.com/PortGrocery