When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, Stella West-Harling turned her community café on the edge of Dartmoor into a food distribution centre to help those struggling to access shops and afford essential items.
West-Harling, 76, founder and chief executive of Ashburton Cookery School, then teamed up with her daughter Rachel Harrison-French, a former primary school teacher. Their aim was to establish community larders in villages and towns around south Devon, with the help of FareShare South West, a surplus food redistribution charity.
This initiative was powered by emergency government funding during the pandemic, which aimed to help food redistribution charities across England ensure the nation was fed.
However, when the pandemic receded and the funding ceased, the mother-and-daughter team decided they could not cut the support
