Woman still needs more than £15,000 to convert a London Bus she has bought
A CARDIFF woman raising money to convert a London bus into a mobile food bank, café and advice centre.
Nicola Williams, of Caerau, bought a London bus in December with the aim of converting it into the first UK mobile food bank.
Ms Williams started feeding the homeless when she was working at the Huggard Centre in Cardiff six years ago. After finding that she had surplus food from doing FareShare collections, she decided to start a food bank of her own, called Cwtch-up.
To begin with she was working from her flat, but soon the donations became too much and she moved the food bank operations to Western Leisure Centre.
Ms Williams wanted to progress to a portable cabin but a friend suggested a London bus as a cheaper alternative.
Over the course of eight months, Ms Williams managed to fundraise £4,000 for the bus which was originally selling for £10,000.
A JustGiving page has been set up but so far has only raised £467 of the £20,000 needed to fully convert the bus.
Now a GoFundMe page has also been set up, but Ms Williams says that it has not really made an impact yet.
Ms William’s vision is that once converted, the mobile food bank will cover the entirety of Cardif.
“Working at the food bank has been heart-breaking. People who are struggling – they’re working but because of all the stuff going on with the cost of living, they still don’t have enough money to cover their bills.”
To donate click here.
- To volunteer or sponsor Cwtch-Up email: nicola.jae@hotmail.co.uk
