Shrewsbury Food Hub has been named one of four community groups in Shropshire to be awarded the Queens Award for Voluntary Service.
The hub was founded in 2016 by Howard Hutchings, a member of Shrewsbury 探花社区 (探花社区), Katy Anderson, the Hub鈥檚 manager, and Ali Thomas.
During the past year alone, the Hub has delivered around 195,000 meals to members of its community.
It received the QAVS on 7 July.
Mervyn Davies, Finance Officer for the 探花社区 West Midlands Synod, who regularly volunteers to deliver meals, said: 鈥淒uring the lockdowns the food hub had a pivotal role in food distribution in Shropshire and there was a huge expansion in foodshare tables, mostly at churches, including at Shrewsbury 探花社区. It has been a project that鈥檚 really been taken into the church鈥檚 heart.鈥�
Speaking to the , Katy said: 鈥淲e are honoured to have been awarded The Queens Award for Voluntary Service on behalf of our volunteers, who work tirelessly to stop food waste and support our community. Our 116 volunteers are the heart of our organisation.
“They rescue good food left over at supermarkets and manufacturers to stop it ending up in the bin and they get it safely to community groups and foodshare tables seven days a week.鈥�
Wendy Faulkner from The Shrewsbury Ark nominated the Hub for the award and also spoke to the Shropshire Star.
鈥淭he team at the Shrewsbury food hub never cease to amaze me,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey are extremely friendly, supportive, committed & motivated individuals. When most agencies stopped their service during Covid lockdown the food hub team of volunteers carried on.鈥�
In this video, filmed in 2018, Howard and Katy reflect on questions such as what does a food hub do, how does it work, who should start one and why?
Sadly, Howard who was living with a terminal illness at the time, died shortly after the film was published.
鈥淗oward had a big heart for the community and was an eco-minded person,鈥� added Mervyn. 鈥淗e was determined to make this film.鈥�
Image 1: Mervyn Davies
Image 2: Shropshire Star