Bristol Junk Food started off as a student-led organisation at Bristol University, and are now a pop-up surplus food cafe. A few years ago, they got in touch with us asking to get involved and fundraise for us. As a small charity, we are always overjoyed when a local group offers to support us! Since 2017, Bristol Junk Food have held several supper clubs each year for our charity, using surplus food from all over the city and asking friends and family to come along, eat and donate to our charity. What started out as a small fundraiser has grown, and now that their founders have left university, they have continued to hold fundraising supper clubs to continue their support to us.

We asked Issy, Lucy and Keir from Bristol Junk Food to tell us more about their supporter story.

 

Tell us a bit about the people behind Bristol Junk Food. How did you get involved?

It was set up by Keir back in 2016 when we were all at University and Lucy and Issy joined forced with him in 2017. We now all run it together alongside our full time jobs in Bristol. Originally we wanted to do something worthwhile with all the free time we had a University, but now we do it to give back to the community in Bristol.

Why did you choose to fund raise for FareShare South West?

At Bristol Junk Food we are hugely passionate about surplus food and think it is a complete tragedy how much gets wasted each year, whilst so many go hungry and are living in poverty in the UK. FareShare does an incredible job of saving tons of food each year and effectively distributes it to those most in need. This is something we love to support and although we can’t give directly to those in need, FareShare South West has the tools and connections to do just that!

How does your fund raising make a difference to your community?

Bristol Junk Food runs events that are open to all, whether that is catering for charity events or hosting surplus suppers, we are all about getting people together! Food brings joy to so many and we aim to take something that would otherwise go to waste and turn it into something that can be a force for good. We often raise money for local charities which means that we are able to tangibly see what a difference our work is making.

How did you run your event? Any tips for someone wanting to do a similar thing?

The team is in our 3rd year of running events and therefore we are hugely lucky in that we have years of experience under our belt and lots of connections within Bristol. However, the best thing anyone can do is to talk to like minded people and luckily Bristol is full of individuals who are interested in such important environmental and social issues. Look out for events similar to what you would like to get involved in and ask as many questions as possible. If you would like to do something similar to Bristol Junk Food, please do get in touch as we would love to help you out!

What would you say to someone wanting to make a difference?

It’s possible! All it takes is a bit of time and effort and you can be as creative as you like. We’ve tried lots of different fundraising efforts from huge pop up cafes when we had lots of time at University, to small intimate surplus suppers now we’ve started full-time jobs and have less time. All our events have the same aim of celebrating surplus food and we manage to work it around our lives whilst having loads of fun in the process. Therefore, don’t be afraid to do anything no matter how big or small. We need more people to be willing to have a go and make a difference, so if you’ve always thought you’d want to do it-go for it!

Could you support our charity? Got a great fundraising idea? Get in touch with Phoebe Ruxton on phoebe@faresharesouthwest.org.uk to have a chat!