Navan SVP using surplus food from local outlets to help needy

Many hard-pressed Navan families are benefiting from a scheme that distributes surplus food to them from local retail outlets.

Over the past few weeks, the St. Vincent de Paul Society (SVP) in the local town have been participating in the project which has seen a large quantity of surplus food from the local Aldi store being brought by SVP volunteers to the homes of needy people on one day each week.

Aldi Ireland has teamed up with FoodCloud which redistributes surplus food to 172 charity partners across the country.

The internet-based initiative connects businesses that have leftover edible fare to charities for the benefit of the less well-off.

The provisions involved, often perishable items like meat and dairy produce, might otherwise go to waste. However, all are within their sell-by dates when collected by local SVP personnel.

Navan SVP area president Stephen Flattery said that the scheme is a useful and appropriate way of getting good food that would otherwise be disposed of to a lot of individuals and families that are eager to avail of this aid.

“The amount of food we are given varies from week to week, depending on what the store has available, but there is always an urgent demand for it,” he added.

In addition, he feels that from the important environmental aspect, the scheme eliminates the practice of waste.
Using the FoodCloud app, or through its website, participating businesses upload details of their surplus food and the time period in which it can be collected.

This automatically sends a text message to the most appropriate charities in their community.
The first charity to accept the offer collects it directly from the retail store.