WIVELISCOMBE’S Wivey Food Project, which has produced over 24,000 meals during the Covid pandemic, will be homeless in less than a month unless new premises are urgently found, it was revealed this week.

The organisation has been operating from Wiveliscombe Rugby Club but, with the pandemic restrictions being loosened, the club needs its space back by March 7.

Set up by local residents Kate Benson and Rosie Boylan in 2020 in response to the pandemic, the project produces meals using surplus food from FareShare and donations from other supermarkets and allotment holders.

Kate said that they decided, from the start, not to means-test the service. "This enabled anyone to benefit from our meals regardless of reason and free from stigma. People paid if they could or wanted to."

The project is now urgently looking for a well-equipped commercial kitchen with a hall attached, plus a store room to house two freezers and a fridge. At the moment, it provides an average of 350-500 meals per week with teams of 10 volunteer cooks and five volunteer drivers.

Kate, a trained chef, says: "There is a tremendous team spirit among our army of volunteers. They have so much fun cooking with their friends each week - it would be so sad to stop that momentum and team spirit."

She added "We are in the process of developing a new food club. We would like members to pay £3.50 per week for bags of fresh, affordable, surplus food (destined for the bin), worth up to £30 a week.

"Alongside the food, they will receive recipe cards and Facebook cooking demonstrations, featuring recipes using that week’s ingredients. So the food project will morph into more of a pantry."

Anyone with suitable space to offer should contact [email protected]