SOFEA is a charity working across Oxfordshire and Milton Keynes that turns surplus food into opportunity for young people and the communities around them.
Based in Didcot and Milton Keynes, SOFEA supports young people aged 14 to 24 who have found mainstream education hard, often leaving with few qualifications and little confidence about what comes next. At the same time, good quality food is going to waste in the supply chain while many local families find it harder to make ends meet.
SOFEA saw a way to connect those two challenges and tackle them together, by turning surplus into opportunity.
SOFEA’s positive cycle of change
At the heart of SOFEA is a simple idea: every part of its work feeds the next, so the good it does keeps growing.
- Surplus food is rescued. As a network partner of Felix (formerly FareShare), and working with In Kind Direct, SOFEA collects good quality surplus food and essential products that would otherwise go to waste.
- Young people learn by doing. Learners sort, store and deliver that food in SOFEA’s warehouses, gaining real work experience, accredited qualifications and skills such as forklift driving and stock management.
- Food reaches the people who need it most. It goes out to Community Larders and to local charities, schools and groups that include food in their services.
- Communities grow stronger. Larder members save on their weekly shop and find friendship and support, while partner organisations cut their food bills and can do more.
5. Young people move forward. With new confidence and qualifications, learners progress into work, training or further education, and some stay on to support the next group coming through.
Who SOFEA supports and how
SOFEA’s support works across three pillars; each linked to the others.
- Education: personalised programmes for young people, including Maths and English up to GCSE level and accredited qualifications in personal development, employability and warehousing and logistics.
- Employability: hands-on work experience through SOFEA’s own food redistribution, plus wellbeing support, mentoring and coaching that build resilience for life. Every role learners take on benefits the local community, and SOFEA pays the Oxford Living Wage.
- Therapeutic Support: SOFEA provides young people with hands on, individualised therapeutic support to help them build resilience, confidence and goals for the future
- Social Action through community nourishment: SOFEA operates four social value programmes that help develop young people’s skills while giving back to the community. These include surplus food redistribution, a network of Community Larders, healthy food cooking programmes and laptop redistribution. Through the Community Larders, members pay a small weekly fee for a basket of good quality food worth much more, alongside a friendly welcome.
Larders are going beyond food! This autumn, SOFEA's Oxfordshire larders also began offering free hygiene products through its Beyond Food campaign, supported by Oxfordshire County Council and In Kind Direct. Community organisations can also join SOFEA to receive surplus food for their own services.
Why SOFEA does it
SOFEA refuses to accept any limit on what people can achieve. Too many young people are written off simply because school did not work for them. SOFEA gives them a fresh start, a real job to do and people who believe in them. And because that work puts food on local tables, the whole community shares in the change.
Get involved
There are lots of ways to be part of SOFEA’s positive cycle of change:
- Volunteer: help at a community larder, in the warehouse or alongside young people. Find out about volunteering.
- Partner with SOFEA: businesses can offer work experience, employee volunteering or sponsorship of a community larder. Explore corporate partnerships.
- Get food for your organisation: community groups that include food in their services can receive surplus food and reduce their costs. Read how it works.
- Join or refer to a community larder: find your nearest larder.
- Refer a young person: if you know a young person who could benefit, talk to SOFEA.
- Donate: every gift helps a young person take their next step. Make a donation.
For more information, visit SOFEA, call 01235 510774 or email info@sofea.uk.com.
Together we change lives.