{"id":4523,"date":"2026-02-03T14:41:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T14:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/?p=4523"},"modified":"2026-02-03T09:45:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T09:45:59","slug":"a-friendship-that-started-with-free-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/olio-stories\/a-friendship-that-started-with-free-food\/","title":{"rendered":"A friendship that started with free food"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Lisa from Leeds, UK first joined Olio in May 2025, she was going through a difficult time. Friends had encouraged her to give it a try when she needed a bit of extra help, so she&nbsp;decided to download the app and&nbsp;sign up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her first request was for free food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cWhen I needed help for the first time, I picked something up from Olio. It was food, and it made a huge difference at the time.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/01\/image-2-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"free food \" class=\"wp-image-4526\" style=\"width:600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/01\/image-2-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/01\/image-2-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/01\/image-2-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/01\/image-2.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In those early weeks, Lisa was collecting surplus food from her local <a href=\"https:\/\/help.olioapp.com\/en\/articles\/12277114-what-is-a-food-waste-hero-and-how-do-i-get-started\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">volunteers<\/a>. One of her first regular collections was from Lilly \u2013 starting with a request for sandwiches. At first, their exchanges were simple and practical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cAfter a few times of going there, I realised we had started to slowly&nbsp;become friends.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Lisa continued collecting from Lilly more frequently, their conversations grew more familiar and the friendship\u00a0deepened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cThe moment I realised we had become friends was awesome. She\u2019s amazing, and we still talk often.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/02\/1000005427-1-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4562\" style=\"width:600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/02\/1000005427-1-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/02\/1000005427-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/02\/1000005427-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/02\/1000005427-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/02\/1000005427-1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/02\/1000005427-1-2048x2048.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over time, Lisa began doing more with the free food she picked up from volunteers as a way to give back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She started cooking meals \u2013 often some pasta or a vegetable curry \u2013 and sharing them with people experiencing homelessness in her area. Other times, she hands out sandwiches when she sees someone in need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cIt makes me happy knowing that I\u2019ve helped people.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/02\/food2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4565\" style=\"width:600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/02\/food2.png 640w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/02\/food2-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/02\/food2-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Looking back, what\u2019s stayed with Lisa most isn\u2019t the free&nbsp;food itself, but the connections that came with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cMy biggest surprise from using Olio was that I met new people and had the opportunity to give back to others.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Olio has since become part of her routine \u2013 and a friendship she didn\u2019t expect has become part of her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What does Olio mean to you?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Lisa, Olio means more than just sharing food. It\u2019s about kindness, <a href=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/category\/our-community\/\">community<\/a>, and the quiet joy of helping others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cOlio means a lot to me. If it wasn\u2019t for Olio, I wouldn\u2019t have met my friend Lilly. Thank you very much.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Lisa from Leeds, UK first joined Olio in May 2025, she was going through a difficult time. Friends had&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":3958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olio-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A friendship that started with free food - Olio | At Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lisa from Leeds found free food through Olio when she needed help most \u2013 and discovered an unexpected friendship along the way.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/olio-stories\/a-friendship-that-started-with-free-food\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A friendship that started with free food - 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