18 June 2025
Alison & Debbie share why FareShare volunteering, how they met and their love of cooking…
Alison: “I was a teacher for a long time at a local primary school. I still work with children and families, preparing meals and teaching basic cooking skills. I enjoy cycling, yoga, cooking and I read a lot.”
Debbie: “I’m a journalist. I’ve been freelancing for the last 20 years, but have stepped back from it since the pandemic. I like outdoor swimming and going to the gym. It’s really important for me to keep fit. When you live in Brighton, which is such an outdoorsy place, it’s all on your doorstep. I also love cooking, reading and film; I went to the San Sebastian Film Festival in September [2024].
“We met as we were both volunteering for FareShare at the same time, during the pandemic.I was in the warehouse and Alison tended to go out on the van, as a driver’s mate. I didn’t see much of Alison, although I knew her by sight.”
Alison: “The first lockdown in 2020, I had my basic health & safety training and started in the FareShare warehouse. I went out in the van occasionally supporting community deliveries and then, we’re not quite sure how it happened, but we both migrated to the warehouse kitchen at the same time! That’s really when we got to know each other.”
Debbie: “I started looking for volunteering roles during COVID to get a balance with my work. I’d been looking to do some volunteering for ages and my dilemma was what kind oforganisation was I going to volunteer my time to? I think it was through social media that FareShare suddenly popped up! It looked brilliant because it ticked all my volunteer boxes. It had such a broad reach of different organisations that it supported; it was environmental with rescuing surplus food from landfill, as well as nurturing communities by offering the food to people in need. I remember speaking to the volunteer manager at the time and begging her to take me on. I told them that it had taken me such a long time to find a charity that I wanted to support! I just wanted to do something worthwhile during COVID; I didn’t have much work on, so I was desperate to help. There was so much in the media around people in need and I just wanted to do something useful. I think a lot of people felt that way at the time.
“The pandemic was a remarkably busy time to join. Compared to now, there was loads of food that came in which was great. It then all went out as quickly as it came in.”
Alison: “Debbie & I got to know each other better through working in the warehouse kitchen. I thought only people who’ve been volunteering for a long time would be able to be in the kitchen. I expressed an interest in it anyway and carried out my online training, which was pretty straightforward. Once I finished that, I was then able to go into the kitchen. I started off as a sous chef and a washer-upper to learn the ropes.”
Debbie: “You learn quite a lot from the food prep training about what not to do. You have to unlearn old habits and reinforce good practices around hand washing and contamination.”
Alison: “I love cooking. We both do. We now work together pretty much all of the time, but before that it would be with other people. One of those was a professional chef. I learned loads from them; it was lovely. It’s also a learning experience, which is such fun!
Debbie: “We really do learn from each other. I love cooking; my son-in-law says I’m a “feeder”, which I take as a compliment. For decades, we’ve both got this shared history of cooking for our families and friends. We like feeding people good quality wholesome food.”
Alison: “It’s a bit bonkers that we’ll go into the warehouse and not really have any idea of what we’re going to cook, because we don’t know what surplus food will be available. The first time I knew that I was going to do a shift cooking, I spent the weekend looking at menus and recipes. Then I got in and it all went out the window. You can’t really plan to cook aubergine or cauliflower, because there may not be any of those ingredients. You’re constantly thinking on your feet.”
Debbie: “Alison is much more organised than I am, so she’ll ring and try and speak to someone in the warehouse and find out what’s in to give us a bit of a heads up on recipe ideas. It’s normally variations on a similar theme; this time of year, it will be winter dishes like chilies, stews or curries with vegetables, rice and then something green. No puddings, we’re not very good on puddings. It’s kind of an organic process now. Then we have a 1pm lunch cut off; that gives us a bit of flexibility if we’re taking longer to cook than normal.”
Alison: “We both tend to get into the warehouse for 9/9.30am. I often think to myself it’s a bit like being a supply teacher; that first 45 minutes when you’re just walking around thinking: what’s in the kitchen? What’s in the warehouse? What can we use? What did they all eat yesterday? How many people are there? There’s often food or leftovers in the fridge that we can use as well. “Everybody is always so appreciative of the food you cook. We have to know if there are allergies, but we’ve got to know what people like and don’t like; some of the guys downstairs don’t like certain green veg, which we’ll also bear in mind.”
Debbie: “We’ll cook for a diverse range of diets; we’ve got vegan, coeliac, vegetarian. We choose not to cook meat. Everybody’s always hungry. If you’re in the warehouse or out on the vans, whatever role you’re doing, it’s physical. When you come back for lunch, people are hungry and they’re happy to sit down and eat anything. I mean, one week we did jacket potatoes with curried baked beans and everyone was really delighted. We thought, gosh, that’s easy! People are honestly very grateful. I mean, you can tell if it’s a hit with people because we’ve got a compost bin next to the sink and you’ve got to walk past us to clean your plate. There’s no hiding!”
Food creating a sense of community
Debbie: “We eat communally, so it’s very sociable. There’s a good eating space; we’ve got a long table, which seats about 10 people. You’ve got people from the warehouse, people from the vans and then staff who come in from the office around the corner; everybody’s mingling. It’s a nice place for people to get to know others that they wouldn’t normally come across and share food; there’s something that’s quite touching about it. It’s humbling. Everyone is equal here.
“We had an individual who always came with a support worker. When they first came, they were very uncomfortable in social spaces. Over the months we saw that change and now they’d sit around the table with us all, perfectly happy in this environment; it was a transformation.”
Alison: “I leave slightly earlier than Debbie; she’s pulled the short straw, as she gets to do all the clearing up. One little ritual we have is that she’ll always send me a message to say if the plates are clean or not; whether everyone enjoyed the meal! There was one occasion where we made a biryani. I was reading between the lines and convinced myself they didn’t enjoy it. Debbie messaged me later that day reassuring me that they did like it, but a lot went in the compost. People are very polite. They won’t actually say they don’t like it, but you can usually tell by the amount that’s in the compost.”
Debbie: “There’s been people who’ve tried different foods for the first time. We had a coworker who was really reluctant to eat our food, but they would come, sit down and try stuff. We’d usually try and hide certain vegetables we know aren’t too popular, so they don’t really know what they’re eating. It’s a little bit like dealing with children.”
Alison: “We’ve had quite a few people asking for recipes. It’s nice to think that we’ve introduced other dishes and flavours to people.”
Debbie: “You feel you’re doing something useful across the charity and you feel really valued; you get quite a nice warm feeling from that. As a volunteer, you’re crucial to the FareShare workings. Whether you’re in the kitchen or in the warehouse, or out on the vans; you’re essential.”
Alison: “You really do feel a part of something at FareShare. Going out in the vans was so interesting, as well as shocking. I’ve heard other people have said the same. I had no idea how many places there were around Brighton who support people in need and I’m not just talking about food banks in Brighton. There are so many different projects around the country that we’re all part of supporting. That was a real eye opener to me. It just makes you realise that what we are doing is really important, but also really valued. There’s a really great, diverse and interesting bunch of people at the warehouse.”
Debbie: “We all are really very different. We’re not all women or men of a certain age, looking for something to do. There’s students volunteering, young people who are trying out different roles, people who are currently working as teachers. We’ve got people with learning difficulties and physical disabilities; but what you share, which brings you together, is the mission statement. Everyone believes in what they’re doing environmentally and for their community and that’s great.”
Friendship
Alison: “I love Debbie and I feel like we’ve got to know each other and have got really close in quite a short space of time. It’s a very supportive friendship. We don’t even have mutual friends, which can happen in Brighton, as it’s small. It’s just lovely to enjoy someone’s company. I look forward to being in the kitchen with Debbie.”
Debbie: “We chat for hours! We share a lot of common things; we’ve got the same values with our children. All our kids are similar ages, so we share all those stories about dealing with grown up children. We talk about what books we’re reading or what films we watched on Netflix. What we did wrong, what we’re eating? It comes very naturally and it’s so comfortable.”
Alison: “When one of us isn’t there, obviously somebody else will step in, and that’s lovely. But it’s a very different experience. It’s just seamless when we’re together; we’re not having to check in with each other all the time. We just get into a rhythm and it just works really well; I guess we’ve been doing it for a while now!”
Debbie: “Symbiotic is how I’d describe our working style. I don’t think either of us are precious about being the lead. It just naturally happens. If Alison’s got an idea for a main course, then great! I’m not going to say, “well, I think that’s rubbish” or “I want to be the lead chef today”. There’s no competition. We’re both on the same team. It’s seamless and not stressful at all.”
Alison: “The 4 hours in the kitchen can go fast. There’s the initial thinking, then prepping and then there’ll be an intense half hour when it’s actually coming together. Then it relaxes again. Kitchens aren’t usually calm places to work, but it’s a really fun environment to be working in.”
Volunteer Awards 2024
Debbie: “Wow, it was a real surprise, actually. We couldn’t believe it and we felt slightly overwhelmed. You don’t see what the other chefs do during the other days of the week. The only thing we could compare was looking at what the other chefs cooked yesterday and what we could cook today for variety.”
Alison: “Exactly. Oh, they had dahl yesterday, we’ll do something different today. Sometimes people have said to us, “it’s different on Tuesday”, this normally eases impostor syndrome! When we found out about the nomination, we were so curious as to who’s voted for us.”
Why volunteer for FareShare?
Debbie: “I think it’s a cliché, but to volunteer you know you’re making a difference; you feel that you’re doing something useful. It becomes a bit like a work commitment that’s what you do on a Tuesday. That’s your space for Fareshare; it becomes part of you. I remember a friend of mine said last year, when I was particularly busy doing other things, why don’t you give up the FareShare volunteering? I was really horrified and said “absolutely not, that’s not going to happen”. It becomes part of your structured week.”
Alison: “I completely agree with that. It tends to be the same people who volunteer on the Tuesday; so there’s a sort of a little core team of us. Everyone is very friendly and you do feel valued. I wouldn’t dream of giving it up now and I’ve learnt a lot from doing it. I just love it.”
Debbie: “We cook on average for about 20-25 people and that’s quite a step from cooking for half a dozen or a family of 4. I think both of us aren’t intimidated now by that scale of cooking. It’s been great to be able to do that.”
Alison: “I have new skills in that I can scale up a recipe and cook for around 20 people; it now doesn’t faze or daunt me. It’s definitely given me more confidence and I’m sure that spills over into the rest of my life. I love doing things for other people and it is making a difference to people’s day from a nourishment and social perspective. On a macro level, what FareShare is doing is making a huge difference to loads of people in communities all over the UK, as well as environmental.”
Seasonal
Debbie: “Christmas at the FareShare warehouse is so festive! I mean, there’ll be decorations up. Everyone’s in the Christmas spirit. Somebody will go around wearing a reindeer hat! Usually the chefs would be expected to cook a festive meal. For us it would be a nut roast with all the traditional veggies. At Christmas there is usually an abundance of root veg like parsnips and carrots so it’s never a problem to fill a plate. But this year for a change the chefs got time off and the staff took on the cooking instead which was wonderful!
“In the summer we tend to make more salads and cold dishes, reflecting the fresh produce that we get from the warehouse as the seasons have changed. We also keep an eye on the calendar throughout the year – so for example at Halloween we’d make sure we did something with pumpkins.”
