The competition, which ran from January to July 2021, required each team to devise community projects to support Sodexo’s Stop Hunger Foundation’s mission to alleviate hunger, promote good nutrition and improve wellbeing.
Each team was required to prepare a six to 12-month business plan that included ways in which funding from Sodexo could help to accelerate the project’s impact. With all ten teams devising strong projects the Sodexo panel of judges awarded funding ranging from £500-£650 to all teams.
Two of the strongest initiatives came from teams from Portsmouth University and the University of Hull, who each received £650 funding for their projects. The projects included:
- Portsmouth’s Eco Ratio project aims to help alleviate food shortages and improve nutrition for children and low-income households in the city, all while attempting to reduce food waste by creating meal kits to sell to the community at a reduced price, with the proceeds supplying more free meals to school children.
- Hull’s Undivided Food Co delivers hampers of fresh produce and nutritious recipes to local beneficiaries so they can begin to improve their diets. The project team has partnered with Hull organisation Rooted, who run an open garden where they educate people on how to grow their own fresh produce.
Gareth John, Sodexo’s European director of Sodexo Legal Affairs and chair of the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation said: “We have been completely blown away by the creativity and commitment of the students who presented to us. All the projects we heard about were focused on tackling food poverty which aligns perfectly with our Stop Hunger ambitions.
“There were some great concepts around delivering meal packs within their communities; reducing food waste and creating affordable meal kits for distribution to low-income families.”
Since 2010, the Stop Hunger Foundation has donated more than £3.4 million to charities tackling hunger and malnutrition.