Earth & Wheat, the world’s first ‘wonky bread’ business, has donated 700 boxes of bread to Poland for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the country.
The bread business, set up by university student James Eid during the pandemic, has sent nine pallets of bread to Przemysl which is just over six miles from the Polish-Ukraine border.
In coordination with the Red Cross, Eid’s wonky bread was delivered to the border by the logistics firm Oakland International. On March 15, Earth & Wheat managed to deliver 54 pallets of food aid.
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“They told me that some of the trucks that went last week were driven by Ukrainian drivers who became stranded when Russian forces initially invaded,” Eid said.
“These guys were taken in by Oakland, given food, water, accommodation and the means to contact their families, before being given a full tank of diesel and a trailer load of aid donations to return home with.”
Last March, Eid was balancing his university studies with working at the family-run firm Signature Flatbreads in Dunstable – where he came up with the “wonky bread” business.
By “rescuing” baked items that didn’t meet strict shop standards or were overproduced, Eid has managed to reduce food waste.
So far, he has “saved” 450 tonnes of bread, received 150,000 orders and donated 150,000 meals to food charities.
Eid added: “I set up Earth & Wheat to reduce food waste and help food charities but now it’s about responding to the humanitarian crisis in the Ukraine and doing all we can to help these people fleeing this dreadful war.”
The news comes as Russian forces have bombed a theatre in Mariupol believed to be sheltering over 1,000 civilians.
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