A CHARITY is to use surplus food from shops and supermarkets to provide free meals over the festive period.

FoodCycle Chester-le-Street will be open on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, to provide a special seasonal service for people who are lonely at this time of year.

Hot, three-course meals will be served in the Cornerstones Centre at Chester-le-Street Methodist Church and will be made entirely from food donated by local shops and supermarkets.

David Oxlade, one of the volunteers who runs the project, said: “Christmas can be a lonely time for lots of people.

“Instead of people sitting at home alone, we wanted to open our doors to Chester-le-Street and ask people to come along and spend Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve with us.

“Christmas is a time to be together and everyone is welcome to join us.”

FoodCycle was founded in 2008 and combines volunteers, surplus food and spare kitchen spaces to create nutritious meals for people at risk from food poverty and social isolation.

Since opening in March 2016, the team in Chester-le-Street, has served over 700 meals to around 20 guests a week.

The group has reclaimed 1.6 tonnes of food and given away over 170 Tupperware boxes to guests to eat meals during the week.

A similar operation in Durham City, which launched in 2010, has served more than 4,000 meals.

One of the regular Chester-le-Street diners, who has chosen to remain anonymous said: “I heard about FoodCycle through some friends. I just like the company.

“I like to chat to people on a night time. It’s somewhere to go in the night. I’ve met loads of people here.”

Mary McGrath, chief executive of FoodCycle, said: “People might live a long way from family, or not even have family, and it can be really hard to not have someone to share this time of year with.

“That’s exactly why the amazing volunteers at FoodCycle Chester-le-Street have decided to throw open their doors and cook up not one, but two, festive three-course meals for the people of Chester-le-Street.

“I would urge people to join them at Christmas for these delicious not-to-be-missed meals.”

Meals will be served on Saturday, December 24, and Saturday, December 31, at 6pm. No booking is necessary.

Anyone who would like to volunteer at the scheme, either over Christmas, or any Saturday at 6pm can log on to: foodcycle.org.uk to sign up or find out more.