Oxford Food Hub has welcomed its new CEO, as it faces its biggest challenge to date.

The trustees of Oxford Food Hub have announced the arrival of a new Chief Executive Officer, Emily Smith.

Ms Smith joins them from her previous role as the Leader of the Vale of White Horse District council, where she has served for three and a half years.

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She brings with her extensive experience of leadership, people management, partnerships, fundraising, customer service and communications. 

Chair of Trustees, Dave Parkes, said: “Emily joins us at a pivotal time. Demand on our services is growing at a rate we haven’t seen before, due to the cost-of-living crisis.

“As well as doubling the number of charities that we support over the last year, we are also seeing increased demand from our existing charities, all working hard to support the people most in need in Oxfordshire.

“We are rising to the challenge. In the last year, we have expanded to a new warehouse, with a walk-in freezer, to create more space for storage of surplus food.

“We’ve procured a new electric van to support the growing demand.”

Oxford Food Hub have supported around 200 frontline charities this year, who in turn deliver over 1.1 million meals to support the people of Oxfordshire. 

Ms Smith said: “I am thrilled to have joined the Oxford Food Hub team. I am so grateful to our volunteers, trustees, staff, generous donors and our suppliers for the work they do for our communities and environment.

“We are looking into a geographical expansion to cover more of Oxfordshire and as inflation continues to drive demand for food, so I am especially keen to hear from food producers and suppliers that would like to work with us”

As well as supporting local communities Oxford Food hub saved almost 500 tonnes of surplus food from going into landfill in 2022.

This is a carbon and methane saving of over 1200 tonnes – the equivalent of 6.3 million miles of driving in an average UK car, or to put it another way, the equivalent of taking 1200 cars off the road for a year.

Oxford Food Hub has over 2000 funders, and over 10,000 volunteer hours used every year.

Every pound donated translates into 4 meals worth of food distributed to charities and organisations supporting those in need www.oxfordfoodhub.org.

Oxford Food Hub is the centre of surplus food redistribution in Oxfordshire, rescuing surplus food from wholesalers, supermarkets, restaurants and more, and redistributing it to charities and community organisations across the county.

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1