A BASINGSTOKE charity which prevents food from going to landfill and feeds more than 2,000 people in the town every week has been saved from closure after partnering with a shopping centre.

As previously reported, Basingstoke Community Food Link (CFL) was under threat of closure if it did not find a new premises before the end of July.

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The charity launched two years ago during lockdown, with volunteers collecting fresh food from supermarkets in the town that cannot be sold and would otherwise go to landfill.

It has delivered more than 150,000 meals to those in need since it launched.

However, the charity was in desperate need of a new premises because the URC church in London Street, where volunteers sorted and packed donated food, needed the space back.

Following an appeal in the Gazette, the charity has now found a new base in Festival Place.

CFL will use a space behind Next, just off Churchill Way, initially for the next six months.

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Noel Matthews, CFL director, said the charity is pleased to be working with Festival Place.

He added: “We really appreciate the generous help and support from Festival Place who are hosting our distribution centre in such a central location.

“This will make a big difference to our volunteers, who work to ensure that surplus food, which would normally go to landfill, is distributed to the less well off in our community.”

So far this year, the charity has collected 30,992kg of fresh, nutritious food, which equates to 73,791 meals, and distributed it to charities and organisations around Basingstoke so they can help the most vulnerable in the community.

Festival Place director Neil Churchill said: “We were delighted to step in and offer CFL the space it needed to set up a new distribution centre within Festival Place.”

He added: “CFL’s work not only supports the most vulnerable in our community, but also helps keep needless food waste out of landfill.”

The charity makes more than 50 collections a week from supermarkets in the town and has more than 50 volunteers working an average of 180 hours a week to help the local community.

Penny Dilley, who set up the charity, said: “In today’s world, this sort of charity is beneficial to the whole of society.”

CFL is part of the Starfish Enterprise Trust charity and run by a small team of people from churches around Basingstoke.

To find out more about the project or to make a donation visit bcfd.org.uk.