Nana Jan cooks up smiles... and award success

63-YEAR-OLD VOLUNTEERS AT CHARITY TO COMBAT LONELINESS AND HELP OTHERS

- By MEGAN BANNER ECHO Correspondent

A KINDHEARTED grandmother has been named a regional hero.

Jan Backstrom, 63, described feeling “lonely” and “depressed” after her son and his family moved to the other end of the country.

Needing something to boost her up, she looked for local opportunities and found FoodCycle.

She has volunteered for the past eight years at its Dingle community hub, turning surplus food that would otherwise go to waste into tasty three-course meals for anyone who wants them, tackling hunger, loneliness and food waste.

FoodCycle is a charitable organisation in the UK that uses excess food donated by supermarkets, shops and food banks to create vegetarian meals served at ‘free community restaurants.’

Jan, from Dingle, said: “When my only son and his family moved down south for work, I needed something to occupy my time.

“I went online and searched for local opportunities and found FoodCycle, which I knew it was for me, as I love cooking.”