By Andy Spearman
In a country that counts its budget surplus in the billions of Euros each year it is almost incredible that there are people who are homeless or cannot afford to heat their homes AND feed their family but that is the sorry state to which this republic has sunk.
Yesterday evening I spent an hour or so in the company of a group of people who have recently established a service to distribute surplus food from supermarkets and cafés to people who find themselves unable to cope.
The Foodshare Drogheda Project operates two evenings a week, Tuesday and Saturday, in what is known as the family room at the Augustinian Church which can be reached through the gate to the Garden of Remembrance to the right of the Church.
During the time that I was in the room there was a steady flow of people, mostly women, through the door. Some were just enquiring while others came to see what food was on offer which was mostly dried foods, pasta, canned food, sandwiches, crisps, bread and cakes. Most of them took something and all said they would be back.
One of the organisers of the service, Martina McEvoy, told me that on the first day of the service last week just five people arrived but the next evening there were 15-20 people through the door.
“People are only getting to know about the service now through word of mouth or from Facebook” she said. “People can take whatever they like, it just depends on what is available.”
“The food shares take place every Tuesday from 6.30 to 7.30 and from 7.30 to 8.30 pm on Saturdays.”
The food comes each evening from supermarkets such as Lidl and Marks and Spencer and it is hoped that other smaller shops and cafés will also come on board to prevent surplus food being wasted.
Two women who were availing of the service that I talked to had similar stories. The first, we’ll call her “Lady A”, told me she had her daughter and two grandchildren living with her and was finding it impossible to keep up with the household bills.
“The cost of living has got ridiculous, especially the electric, and the supermarket bill has also gone mad in the last six months. I don’t know how people are expected to keep going.”
Another, younger, woman told me that she has two sons, aged three and five, to look after and she had to give up her job because she can’t afford to pay for childcare.
“I’m on lone parent’s allowance of €289 a week, my mortgage is €150, gas and electric is €40 so I have about €100 a week to cover everything else.”
Friendly faces at the Foodshare Drogheda Project (from left): Martina McEvoy, Anna Pieper, Margot Ferry and Michelli Faria. Photo: Andy Spearman.
She said she was dreading the back to school bills already. “Just keeping shoes on their feet is a nightmare” she said, “You know how quickly children’s feet grow!”
She was determined to keep things going however but every day is a struggle. “My mother was a great woman and struggled hard to keep us kids and I am determined not to let my boys suffer either.”
The founder of the new service is Margot Ferry who is from France but came to live in Drogheda two years ago with her partner who is Irish. She had seen similar food share operations in France and in London where she worked for several years and decided to have a go at starting it in Drogheda.
She experienced some difficulty in finding a premises from which to run the service and expressed her great thanks to Father Colm O’Mahony, the Prior of St Augustine’s for allowing them the use of the family room.
She said that it was early days yet but was encouraged by the upturn in the numbers arriving in week one.
She also appealed for more shops to consider donating their Surplus food. Anyone interested in volunteering or donating food should call Margot on 085 266 43 94.
Margot explained that volunteers collect surplus food from supermarkets, cafes and retailers following food safety rules.
“We have teamed up with anti-food waste Hero FoodCloud and the Neighbourly platform to get free donations from local supermarkets including Lidl and M&S” she said.
“Food is brought to our project space and is either distributed to the public straight away, or stored safely in fridge/ freezer or shelves following a code of Health and Safety.”
