I feel so lucky I’m in a position to be able to help and feel I get more out of it than it gets out of me.

Jay

I first heard of the Real Junk Food Project Birmingham in December 2017 from a neighbour who invited me to come along to St Marys church hall for a bite to eat and a bit of shopping on a pay as you feel basis.

I went along and had a very nice roast dinner with pudding and a decent bag of shopping a chat with some of my unknown neighbours. A very relaxing afternoon with some lovely company for which I gave 4 or 5 pounds, what a bargain.

I enjoyed it so much I offered to help out if it ever happened again, and I’ve not looked back. We now have a great bunch of volunteers and have been going from strength to strength, we have even had a street party for the people living in Trinity Close where quite a few neighbours came and spent a beautiful sunny afternoon with tea, coffee, fruit juice, cakes, biscuits, fruit and music, it was great.

I can truly say that volunteering for the Real Junk Food Project Birmingham is the most rewarding and fulfilling thing I have ever done. I’ve made a whole bunch of new friends and got to know more of my neighbours in the past few months than I have the previous 7 years I have lived here. I feel so lucky I’m in a position to be able to help and feel I get more out of it than it gets out of me.

On a more serious note, it’s truly frightening to see the amount of good fresh fruit and veg, other food stuff and many many household items that would otherwise go to landfill if it weren’t intercepted and fairly distributed by the Real Junk Food Project Birmingham. A great initiative.