How FareShare help brands like Tesco redistribute surplus food to those in need
FareShare is the UK’s largest food redistribution charity, with more than 30 Regional Centres across the country. It takes food from the food industry that can’t be sold in shops, either because of packaging errors or a short shelf life. FareShare has worked with Tesco since 2012 to help alleviate poverty in the UK by ensuring surplus food within its supply chain is used to feed people and doesn’t end up as waste.
Joining host Stefan Gates for a fascinating look into how charities and retailers are working together to alleviate food waste by distributing surplus food to those who need it are Helen Davies, Retail Partners Senior Manager, FareShare, Claire de Silva, Head of Community and Local Media, Tesco, Nicola Mackay, Community Food Programme Manager, Tesco and Dr Mansukh Morjoria, Trustee, Shree Jalaram Mandi.
About our panel
Helen Davies, Retail Partners Senior Manager, FareShare
Helen Davies is a Senior Commercial Manager at FareShare. She manages relationships with some our key retail partners, particularly Tesco, and is also responsible for business development and management of new partners joining the FareShare Go programme. Helen moved into the charity sector five years ago after a long career in mobile communications where she has run CSR for EE and Orange, communications and engagement for UK R&D and far too many projects in retail to mention!
Claire de Silva, Head of Community and Local Media, Tesco
Claire de Silva is Head of Community and Local Media at Tesco where she leads a team delivering multi-million-pound programmes that support thousands of local communities across the UK and a number of core proactive media campaigns. She began her career as a journalist working for a number of weekly, daily and evening newspapers before moving into public and media relations leading communications at John Lewis, Merlin, Whitbread, Travis Perkins and Centrica and the Hospice of St Francis.
Nicola Mackay, Community Food Programme Manager, Tesco
Nicola (Nicki) Mackay is Community Food Programme Manager at Tesco where she plans and deliver Tesco’s operational strategy on food redistribution and food poverty via the delivery of two key community programmes; Tesco Food Collection, the annual food collection in stores in support of the FareShare and The Trussell Trust, and Community Food Connection in partnership with FareShare and FoodCloud, which offers daily edible food surplus to charities to collect for free.
Dr Mansukh Morjoria, Trustee, Shree Jalaram Mandi
Mansukh Morjaria is a Trustee at Shree Jalaram Mandir, a temple situated in Greenford, London, supporting people with food in the local community. As a not for profit organisation, they collect food through Tesco via FareShare Go – the back of store programme where charities and community organisations can collect end of day surplus food. Shree Jalaram Mandir is linked with lots of Tesco stores in London and has been collecting food through the programme since 2017. Throughout the pandemic, they have been supporting a wide range of people in the area, as well as homeless people, through fresh cooked meals and food parcels.
Your surplus food can help feed people facing food poverty
By working with FareShare, your organisation can identify and redistribute your quality, good-to-eat surplus food to thousands of frontline charities and community groups who are helping to feed people facing food poverty across the UK.
With a network of over 11,000 charities and community groups, FareShare supports a wide range of frontline organisations, working to help provide food for some of the most vulnerable people in our communities, including the elderly, homeless and children attending breakfast and after-school clubs.
With the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic still being felt throughout the UK, the need for support is higher than ever, with FareShare currently providing the equivalent of more than 2 million meals per week to help those facing food poverty.
One charity who receives food from FareShare, Bechange in Kent, is supporting a range of people throughout the community.
“When Covid hit we knew there would be people struggling to get food,” explains Angela Doggett, Chief Executive of Bechange. A community hub that has been in operation for over 20 years, their normal support-offering was adapted with the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, and they began operating a thrice-weekly meal delivery service, dropping off five full meals per week to around 120 people across the community.
“The food from FareShare has been brilliant,” beams Angela, “it’s allowed us to cook so much more on our budget. We’ve been able to make our funding stretch so we could keep going with the food deliveries for longer and it’s allowed us to dedicate more time to applying for funding for our other work.”
Bechange is just one of the thousands of charities working endlessly to help provide vital services, and by being able to distribute food to their beneficiaries, it helps them open doors to other ways in which they can offer support and advice.
“A lot of people have been really lonely during this time. For some older people especially, the pandemic has made life really difficult. Of course, we have to do things safely and keep
our distance, but even just having someone knock at your door a few times a week, to make sure you’re fed and you’re ok, can help alleviate some of that loneliness.”
With more than 30 regional warehouses, FareShare is the UK’s largest redistribution charity, working with frontline groups to provide nutritious meals from good-to-eat surplus food that could otherwise have gone to landfill. From frozen food to ambient, meat, dairy and fresh produce, the demand for food is expected to stay high across the UK for months to come and FareShare wants to be there to support the many charities who are trying to meet that demand.
Already working with hundreds of food organisations, it is thanks to the partnerships within the food industry that FareShare continues to be able to provide this much-needed support — vital to millions of people, but they need your help.
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