Over 20,000 meals donated to homeless from school leftovers
Students at Terence MacSwiney Community College Tina O’Connor, Mia Twomey, Tony Doherty, Julia O’Neill, and Ciara Hegarty Rodgers pack up their leftover school dinners ready to donate them to the homeless in Cork. Picture: Chani Anderson
The students of a Cork school have now delivered in excess of 20,000 meals for the homeless and poverty-stricken just by using school dinner leftovers.
After three years of setting up a social enterprise to reduce food waste, the pupils from Terence MacSwiney Community College in Hollyhill are determined to keep going with the initiative which has thrived due to its sustainable approach.
The idea was set in motion to save food destined for the landfill while supporting those unable to afford a basic meal.
Since its inception in 2021, the project has captured the imagination of people across the county as well as scooping various accolades.
In a new boost, the Food Fund app looks set to be completed during this academic year — allowing schools across the country to track and upload data about leftover school meals while linking them in with local charities for donation purposes.
The app is the brainchild of former students Shane Dwyer, Dylan Peelo, Shane O’Reilly, Kalvein Lowther, and Corey McCarthy who noticed that surplus meals were being discarded on a daily basis.
Other schools have since got on board and donated leftover meals to the cause, including St Mary’s on the Hill, Strawberry Hill National School, and Scoil Padre Pio.
Caitríona Twomey, from Cork Penny Dinners, distributes the meals to clients of the charity at their premises on Little Hanover St in Cork City. The meals are collected by volunteers of the charity who arrive every day without fail to the school.
Eva Corbett, who teaches business studies at Terence MacSwiney Community College, described how Transition Year students at the school are making a difference.
“The Food fund, which is part of the Transition Year programme, is making a tangible difference to people’s lives. There is normally only a short window for this food to be used, so they are turning it around fairly fast.
"They will then walk to St Mary’s on the Hill to collect their donated food. By the end of the day, they are helping the Penny Dinners drivers to pack the van. They do this while the teachers are in class and are basically running this themselves. New students have now taken on the mantle of this amazing project. We hope this is something that can continue for years to come.”
She described why the initiative has been beneficial to the school in addition to those receiving the meals.
“What this is effectively doing is keeping food out of the landfill. It also gives us the opportunity to keep track on our orders and costs," she said.
Ms Twomey praised the initiative, adding: “What they do for us is incredible. This has been beneficial for so many people.
"This school has kindness in abundance. It just goes to show how community involvement is at the heart of wellbeing.”
Meanwhile, Terence MacSwiney Community College principal Phil O’Flynn said she is very proud of her students for their empathy and compassion.
“A lot of the students are very empathetic," she said.
"They have an interest in this because many of them know someone who has experienced poverty at some point in their lives.
"A lot of schools are trying to teach social entrepreneurship, but these students are learning it in a hands-on way. We are not only proud of what our students have achieved, we are proud of who they are.”
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