Homeless people will continue to receive warm meals from the Isle of Wight Soup Kitchen after Tesco donated a free delivery van to the organisation.
The ex-Tesco fleet van, which was previously used for home deliveries, will be transformed into a pop-up kitchen, helping to secure the future of the food service.
The IW Pop Up Soup Kitchen regularly collects fresh food that would normally go to waste from Tesco, other supermarkets and local suppliers such as the Garlic Farm and the Tomato Stall.
The food collected is used to cook soups and other nutritious meals which are distributed to homeless people on the Island.
The Soup Kitchen was facing an uncertain future following the news that the Newport shopfront from which it operated its ‘pay as you wish’ café was being sold by the landlord.
The donation from Tesco has now helped to secure the future of the vital service, which provides 10,000 meals a year.
Trevor Blaney, founder of the soup kitchen, said:
“We simply can’t believe this. Not only is it wonderful news for the team, it is a great asset to those less fortunate on our Island.
This has been a lifeline for us, working with Tesco.”
Trevor and Kay from the IW Soup Kitchen doing the rounds on Christmas Eve
Trevor was awarded a Local Food Hero award in 2017 for his work and has grand plans for the van, including installing a hatch and a roll-out canopy to service hot drinks, soups and rolls to the homeless.
He founded the Isle of Wight Pop Up Soup Kitchen in 2014 after seeing a number of homeless people excluded because of severe addiction or mental health issues, from the night shelter where he had been volunteering.
Realising the existing services were not equipped to help some of the most vulnerable homeless people, Trevor would drive to locations where he knew people were sleeping and provide them with a flask of soup, sleeping bags, torches and mobile phones.
The charity is a beneficiary of Tesco’s Community Food Connection scheme, run through the charity FareShare, meaning it regularly collects surplus food from the supermarket’s store in Ryde to help with its work.
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