Kevranna means ‘to share’ in Cornish, so it was the perfect choice as the new name for St Ives Community Foodshare, a non-profit social enterprise which has been collecting food waste from local supermarkets and bakeries almost every day since March 2020.
The organisation – which has a five-star food hygiene rating – also receives masses of vegetables from farms, via Cornwall Gleaning Network. In November 2022, for example, more than 2 000kg of food that would otherwise have gone to landfill was saved and offered to the community free for collection, six days per week.
Throughout the autumn, winter, and early spring, St Ives Community Foodshare has offered free or ‘pay what you feel’ community meals every Friday at St John in-the-Fields Church Hall.
One person who attended for the first time wrote afterwards: “Thank you so much for inviting me. My first day in St Ives and I feel really, really welcome. What you’re doing is amazing.” Another commented: “The food was delicious. It was set up really nicely, and it was like going to a restaurant. It made me feel really special. It’s lovely to have a meal cooked for me, because I don’t have the energy to cook.”
Free food collection is available five days a week. Collection times are Thursdays at 5.30pm and Sundays at 12.30pm from the group’s base at St Ives Rugby Club, on Tuesdays at 12.30pm and Fridays at 5.30pm from Palemon Best Recreation Ground car park, and on Mondays at 5.30pm at the Mike Peters Estate.
The group’s new name, Kevranna, reflects its decision to branch out to share not only food but also clothes, seeds and skills. Every Wednesday from 10.30am to 12.30pm at St John’s Church Hall, Kevranna Social Club offers art and craft activities as well as hot pasties and takeaway meals.
Anyone interested in volunteering, or donating surplus food which would otherwise go to waste, can email stivesfoodshare@gmail.com or contact the group via the new website, www.kevrannastives.co.uk.
