An organisation supporting its local people has been given a two-year lifeline.

The £16,149 grant to the Tamar Valley Community Food (TVCF) Community Interest Company will cover its running costs over the next 24 months.

“We’re really happy and relieved that we've received funding for our project from the National Lottery Community Fund,” said coordinator Mai Evans.

“The first thing we're going to do is to reinstate deliveries of short-date food from FareShareSW.”

There’s also been good news in terms of some very local support for the project: Calstock Parish Council has agreed to award the CIC a grant of £650.

Tamar Valley Community Food started in April 2022 as a Community Fridge and Larder run by volunteers. It was initially funded by the Co-op, LiveWest and Cornwall Council’s Community Chest.

The open-access facility runs seven days a week between roughly 10am – 10pm, and receives donations of food that would otherwise be thrown away from local shops and individuals. Fresh produce is also supplied in season from the Cornwall Gleaning Network.

“The Community Fridge is located in the ideal place behind Pearces petrol station and shop (now Asda) in Drakewalls and serves all the surrounding villages,” Mai explains.

“It has proven to support, and be supported by many diverse community members. Our service users include families, older people, people with disabilities, people at risk of homelessness, single parents and people on low incomes.

“In its first two years, well over 29 tonnes of food has been diverted from going to waste.”

The Community Fridge relies entirely on volunteers to do cleaning, food hygiene checks, admin tasks, grant applications, and the collection, weighing and recording of food donations.

The successful grant bid means that the CIC will now be able to pay mileage expenses for collections, secure essential cleaning and packaging supplies, receive a minimum 50kg wholesale surplus food delivery from FareShareSW and keep on ensuring the Community Fridge is run efficiently and to high hygiene standards.

“We've managed to retain most of our original volunteers,” says Mai, “and I can't thank all of them enough for keeping this wonderful community asset going!”