Havens Food Co-operative is a food waste prevention service, which helps people struggling with soaring food bills by providing them with surplus food without cost. The co-operative rescues food from supermarkets and other providers that otherwise would go to landfill – perhaps the food has been given a short shelf-life, is mislabelled, wonky or overproduced. This food is collected, then redistributed to families, groups and individuals with the highest need.
Individuals and families are able to come and collect food on-site. The co-operative also donates surplus food parcels to groups such as schools, social clubs and youth groups through their Pop-up-Pantry Scheme.
FareShare Sussex & Surrey also delivers food regularly to Havens Food Co-operative, contributing to their supply of surplus food. The food co-operative is one of three projects operated through the Havens Community Hub, which is a special purpose company set up specifically to benefit the community. The other two projects are Havens Community Cars and Havens Happy Clubs.
Havens Community Cars, a volunteer car service, helps people in the community without access to their own cars with their transport needs such as getting to doctors’ appointments. Instead, they only pay mileage, which is far cheaper than a taxi.
Meanwhile, Havens Happy Clubs operate as an old age and dementia social club offering a two-course meal and social activities. These could be art classes, singing, magic shows or pet therapy sessions.
Francesca Lowton, who works at the Havens Community Centre, explains how the food project works:
“The food collections arrive in the evenings and get sorted between 8.30 and 9.00pm. We have a list of families who need a bit of extra support, and they can come and choose what they want first. What is left over is left for others to take.”
Francesca tells us how demand for their food has risen, particularly in the past year, as the cost-of-living crisis intensifies. She describes how they can now immediately respond to emergency food needs.
“These emergency bags have been very popular in the past few months as there are a lot of families who are really struggling. We have started keeping back a small stock of tins, so if anybody needs emergency food, we can give them a bag of non-perishable items. Then direct them to a food bank, this helps in the interim as other places often take a while for people to get signed on and require referrals etc.”
She explains how they do not ask recipients any questions why they are coming.
“If you need support that’s fine, you don’t need to explain to us. But the people who do share say the increase in bills, especially the cost of supermarket food, means they are not able to have as much variety. For items like oranges for their childrens’ lunchboxes they will come and look for these here.” “We are basically saving people money, with the added bonus of preventing food which is still perfectly fine to eat going to landfill.”
The food co-operative is manned daily by a group of volunteers. John Kingshott, who’s been volunteering since the pandemic, comes in on Monday evenings as well as doing deliveries on Fridays.
“I’ve got a roster of people every night who I phone, and they come and get the items.” “ I deliver a parcel of fresh produce to the local nursery and whatever is left over is put outside in the hallway and any parents can help themselves. It all goes – nothing is ever wasted.”
John shares with us how much he loves working there:
“It’s a joy to see people’s faces when I deliver things they wouldn’t normally get as often, they haven’t even had breakfast.”
Volunteering there also provides John with some respite.
“Being retired, I’ve got a wife who’s terminally ill so I’m looking after her and this is my safe station.”
