Life beyond the virus: Honiton community kitchen gears up for what's coming next

A community kitchen set up in Honiton Rugby Club when the coronavirus crisis first hit has now been running for five weeks.

In that time, approximately 2,000 meals have been delivered to members of the community who would have otherwise struggled.

The idea for The Random Kitchen - as it's become known - came from Cathy McCollum who is a bespoke cake maker before losing work in the wake of Covid-19.

Now, she and husband Tony who is the development manager for Honiton Town Council, whilst also a councillor for East Devon District Council and chair of Honiton Chamber of Commerce - along with a dedicated team of volunteers - are working full-tilt to establish themselves as a charity while continuing to provide free meals for those who need it.

Honiton Nub News caught up with the team at The Random Kitchen and spoke to Tony McCollum.

He told us: "Since we set up five weeks ago, we've issued around 2,000 meals, plus other items which have been donated to us - kids toys, CDs, puzzles - anything that people bring down to us, we add them on as extras.

"We've probably delivered around 3,000 items to families and vulnerable people living in the Honiton area.

"We are now looking at how we expand our delivery radius to include Ottery St Mary and Payhembury, as we've had calls from there.

"We're working with people in Ottery, to help them set up their own kitchen and to provide assistance with that. If it's successful, then we'll work in partnership.

"It may be a case that they come and collect from us to service their area.

"We are now looking beyond the virus and planning, if everything falls into place, to turn this into a charity; because once the coronavirus crisis is over the problem isn't going to go away.

"It's always been there, this has just exacerbated it and we all know that we're headed for a recession straight after this, which means the situation is only going to get worse.

"So we're currently in the process of registering The Random Kitchen as a charity alongside a meals-on-wheels paid-for service, which will help to subsidise the free stuff we give out.

"Once we're officially a charity, then we stand to get grants and more donations from supermarkets - some of which currently won't donate to us because we don't have a number.

"We hope that will stabilise what we have going here at The Random Kitchen for the longterm.

"On top of that, if we're going to stay here at The Rugby Club and they agree to it, we'll help them by making more use of the facilities, providing financial support and also hospitably services when they need it.

"We also work very closely with Sharon Thorne and the team at TRIP Community Transport, who have been a fantastic support.

"I won't be here full-time. I've got a job at Honiton Town Council, which I will continue and I'm still an East Devon District councillor, so I'll find someone to replace me doing the admin, organising and fetching and carrying.

"It has been very successful, which just goes to show how badly a service like this is needed.

"All of it is down to the generosity of people in Honiton and further afield - we get stuff from Exeter, Sidmouth and Chard - but a lot of it is thanks to businesses in the town."