The largest emergency food agency in Epping Forest has relaunched a youth employment initiative following the pandemic.

3Food4U’s Youth Employment Strategy YES conferences were put on hold for two years due to Covid.

Chairman of the charity Pesh Kapasiawala said: “Our aim is to motivate and encourage students to have an awareness of how to improve their employability skills. We do this by working with students from Years 9 and 10 with two conferences – a motivation conference for Year 9 students and a world of work (WOW) conference for Year 10 students.

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“YES works with six schools across Epping Forest District Council at Waltham Abbey Marriott Hotel. It was a fantastic relaunch of our motivational conferences with King Harold Academy and Debden Park High School last week.

“There was a wonderful response from all the students, they were a great credit to their schools, engaged and inspired. Huge thanks to our two new conference presenters Ben Adetimole and Sejal Chana.”

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Jaci Hammond, who represents both schools, said: “Our students were really energised when they came back into school and have written some great comments.”

The next two YES conferences are due to take place on March 30 and May 4. 3Food4U is always looking for volunteers and businesses to sponsor and support the project.

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3Food4U has a Fundraising page at https://www.stewardship.org.uk/pages/3food4u

The charity’s community surplus hubs are open as follows:

  • Monday: Waltham Abbey – 13, Sun Street - 11.30am to 1pm
  • Tuesday: Loughton – Loughton Club, 8, Station Road - 11.30am to 1pm
  • Wednesday: Chigwell Row – All Saints Church Hall, Romford Road - 5pm to 6.30pm
  • Thursday: Ongar – Zinc Arts Centre, High Street - 1pm to 2.30pm
  • Friday: Waltham Abbey – 13, Sun Street - 11.30am to 1pm

For further details, email info.3food4u@gmail.com