International Platform For Young People’s Foodbank Idea

A group of young people who devised a simple idea to boost Foodbank donations that went on to be rolled out across the UK, will have the chance to tell their story – to an international audience.

Two members of the group have been selected to deliver a talk at the prestigious TEDxExeter festival this April.

The young people were taking part in the National Citizen Service programme in Exeter, which is delivered by Exeter CITY Community Trust.

As part of the programme, the participants devise and deliver a social action project. The 13 young people worked together to develop their Foodbank Friendly campaign, which saw them developing labels to put alongside those items which were most in need by the users of the Exeter Foodbank. They trialled their idea at the Sainsbury’s store in Exeter Guildhall and were amazed to see donations to the Foodbank triple.

Sainsburys worked with the group and in December rolled out the scheme to 350 of their stores across the country. Now, two members of the group, Izzy Clarkson and Jess Pepperell (pictured above), will be stepping on to that famous red dot.

Danny Harris, deputy head of community at Exeter CITY Community Trust, said:

“This has been an amazing experience for this group of young people and they totally deserve this success. I think it’s going to be a very proud moment for all of us when we see them delivering their talk.”

CITY Community Trust works in partnership with Exeter City Football Club and provides a range of activities to people of all ages, focused on health, education, wellbeing and physical activity.

NCS is a four-phase programme for young people aged between 15 and 17. The Exeter groups take part in a week of adventurous activity in Cornwall, life skills at Bicton College and in the final two weeks, the planning and delivery of a social action project.

TEDxExeter is an independently organised TED event which takes place at the Northcott Theatre, with livestream in the nearby Alumni Auditorium and at other key locations in the city. Tickets for the event sell out almost as soon as they are put on sale. To date, TEDxExeter talks have been viewed more than 17.7 million times and are ranked fourth in the world for talks having over a million views on TED.com.