200,000 meals donated to FareShare South West

We recently hit a huge milestone! With the help of our customers, we have now donated 200,000 meals to the Bristol-based food bank charity, FareShare South West. As you may know, we have been partnered with the charity for the past two years, and during this time we have regularly donated our surplus meat and fish to provide nutritious meals to those in need.

As winter approaches and in a time of such uncertainty, we caught up with Phoebe Ruxton (Head of Development at FareShare South West) to find out more about the charity and their initiatives.

What do they do?

Every year, hundreds of tonnes of perfectly good food goes to waste, whilst there are many in our society who are struggling with food insecurity. FareShare South West aim to tackle this by acting as the middleman between food businesses, like Field & Flower, and smaller organisations, such as schools and homeless hostels, to redistribute surplus food evenly throughout the community and combat wastage.

Their staff of 15, with the support of a fleet of volunteers, distribute food to 320 charities per week, making them the largest food redistribution charity in the UK. Their reach expands as far East as Devizes and as West as Exeter, with plans to move their operations to parts of Cornwall too.

Covid-19
For many of us, the lockdown in mid-March brought with it an alien concept – being unable to get the food we want, when we want it. Whether it was pasta, flour, eggs or toilet paper, we might have suffered for a week or two, but for some people in the UK this is an everyday reality. As Phoebe explained, the lockdown also highlighted how easy it is to slip into food poverty. Many elderly people were simply unable to access money (as call lines were inundated by the crisis, and online banking is often inaccessible for the elderly).

When the Covid-19 crisis hit, FareShare South West more than doubled its food support. As unemployment rates and economic instability soared, they had to act quickly. They set up several temporary warehouses, created new partnerships, mobilised volunteers, and expanded into new regions within a matter of weeks.

Whilst these temporary initiatives were incredibly effective in feeding the most vulnerable, as we move into winter and the pandemic still looms over us, there are growing concerns about food insecurity. This is where FoodStock 2020 comes in… FoodStock 2020.

Without a vaccine, it is hard to know exactly what the situation will be next week, let alone over the next few months. Even the most optimistic among us are likely to have our concerns about how hard this winter is going to be, so FoodStock 2020 was launched by FareShare South West to prepare for the worst-case scenario surrounding food distribution this winter.

How are they doing this?

• Gathering an emergency supply of ambient foods: this will enable FareShare South West to offer a free supply of emergency food to the charities they support, essentially acting as a safety net. Between November 2020 and February 2021, they are aiming to redistribute food for over 1 million meals.

• Centralising food parcel production to their main warehouse: this means that the smaller charities they support will only need to source delivery channels, minimising the need for volunteers and packing facilities.

• Working with charities and organisations to mobilise support when needed: this includes Shambala Festival’s volunteer base and Bristol-based events company, Team Love.

• Continue and increase support from partners in the food industry: for example, Field & Flower will continue to provide monetary and surplus meat and fish donations to the charity.

The Future of FareShare and Field & Flower

We could not be prouder to support FareShare South West and all the amazing work they do for the community. We are continuing to donate much-needed funds, as well as our free-range British meat and sustainable fish that will be redistributed to those in need. We are also continuing with our donation initiative that allows our customers the chance to donate when placing their order.

With our customer’s support we have raised over 200,000 meals for FareShare South West, but we don’t want to stop there. We’re aiming for 250,000 meals by Christmas – helping a quarter of a million of people in need.

Thank you from the whole team here at Field & Flower and FareShare South West.