THE University of York has made considerable donations over the last few months to support the local food charity, Yourcafe.

The donations came from sales of their Christmas cards, which were designed by students, as well as the University Nisa stores as part of their ‘Making a difference locally’ scheme.

The University of York works with Yourcafe, a pay as you go food bank, regularly. The partnership includes donating surplus food, kitchen equipment, raising awareness and donating funds.

In the last few months University of York were able to donate over 15 Christmas hampers, six crates of surplus food and £1,200 to the food charity.

Lisa Maunder-Wood, director of the charity, said that the money would be spent on essential food.

Jon Greenwood, managing director of York Commercial Services, who work with the university, said: “In such uncertain times it’s great that we’ve been able to continue supporting Yourcafe and all of their amazing work, with the help of all students and staff at the university.

“We hope to continue supporting them in the future.”

Yourcafe was set up by Margaret Hattam and Margaret Hogg in 2015.

Margaret said: “We decided to set up Yourcafe as we were both concerned about the issue of food waste in York and wanted to do something to reduce it.

“We also wanted a project that would benefit the local community. For us, it’s about both tackling food waste and promoting community spirit.”

Due to Covid restrictions The charity has had to adapt, meaning members of the community are required to get in touch in advance, and inform the staff of how many people are in their household.

The team then put together a bag of food for each household, which is collected from the Tang Hall Community Centre.