UKHarvest launch in-school food hubs around Chichester

Thanks to the generous donation from the King Charles III Charitable Fund, UKHarvest have created and launched a brand-new initiative called Grub Club. Through Grub Club, local school students will run their own food donation hubs once a week, in school, helping to bring their community together through food.  

Grub Club will take place in 10 schools around the Chichester area, encouraging students to volunteer and provide food for up to 40 people per school. Pupils and their families can join the mission to end food waste by taking surplus food donated to UKHarvest by a range of food producers, farmers and growers and distributors. 

The initiative will provide healthy nutritious food to households within the school community, and to offer information and support about healthy eating and cooking, supporting UKHarvest’s mission to Nourish our Nation through the rescue and redistribution of edible surplus food. 

Key food donors to this project include Barfoots, a local grower based in Donnington and Squished, a rescued fruit food producer. Sarah Morison has recently joined the team at Squished sharing that ‘Squished’s purpose is to reduce food waste and air-dry locally grown surplus berries to create healthy sustainable snacks. Our ‘fruit for kids’ works brilliantly with UKHarvest’s food rescue and healthy eating goals. Grub Club brings together school communities and local producers through this inspiring distribution campaign, engaging with a wider audience through clever collaboration.’

Barfoots are UKHarvest’s largest fresh food donor and have been donating fresh food to the charity since inception in 2017. Kim Barfoot-Brace, brand manager at Barfoots has said ‘Barfoots are delighted to be able to contribute food to this incredible project. Bringing our surplus product to local households via UKHarvest ensures that this product does not go to waste and is used to support families that may need to top up their shopping. Teaching and educating local students to manage their own food redistribution project using locally grown food is a powerful way to work towards all our food waste reduction goals.’  

How Grub Club is run and managed will be up to the students and the school. Deputy head teacher at Birdham Primary School, Emily Ellis, has told UKHarvest that ‘This is a hands-on opportunity for our students to really understand the impact that reducing food waste can have on the environment and on society. We hope that this gives the children the chance to learn about the importance of helping and supporting everyone in our community, of ensuring we are all nourished and cared for and reinforcing our values to love learning, love our world and love each other.’