- In 2013, FareShare Cymru North Wales saw a 56 per cent increase in the number of charities needing food to help people living in ‘deep poverty’
- Last year, FareShare Cymru North Wales provided 294,230 meals to 53 charities across the region, compared to 34 charities in 2012
- To deal with increased demand, FareShare North Wales has become FareShare Cymru North Wales, serving 13 towns and cities within the region
Faced with a growing demand on its resources, FareShare, the national food redistribution charity, has announced plans to develop its network across the UK. As the organisation continues to take on seven new charities each week, FareShare’s regional centres are rolling out plans to expand their local reach. As part of this, FareShare North Wales, run by social enterprise Crest Co-operative, has become FareShare Cymru North Wales, serving 13 towns and cities across the region.
Last year, FareShare Cymru North Wales received 110 tonnes of food, equating to 294,230 meals on plates and feeding over 2,544 people across the region. Working with 34 local charities, this marked a 56 per cent increase in the number of local charities coming to FareShare Cymru North Wales for support.
To further expand FareShare’s impact, the organisation has also introduced a new satellite model, extending FareShare’s local reach. Allowing more charities than ever to benefit from the work that FareShare does, this will see the organisation’s 18 regional centres supplemented with a number of ‘satellite operations’ from which charities will be able to collect food – expanding into areas that the organisation was previously unable to target.
Lindsay Boswell, CEO, FareShare commented: “In the last twelve months, we have witnessed a significant hike in the number of people turning to charities for their next meal. This worrying trend is putting more and more pressure on the charities that provide a lifeline to many. Through our current expansion plans, we will be able to reach more charities, providing more meals to more people across the country.
“While this is fantastic, there is only so much that we can do without continuing to develop our partnerships with the food industry. We estimate that we are currently only accessing 1.5 per cent of surplus food and that there is enough surplus for another 800 million meals in the UK. We’re urgently calling on the industry to act and divert their surpluses to FareShare so we can feed more people.”
Sharon Jones, Chief Executive of Crest Co-operative, who run FareShare Cymru North Wales added: “We are really excited to enter the next stage of FareShare Cymru North Wales’s development. As we have seen, more and more people within the area are needing extra support to make ends meet – last year alone we saw an incredible 118 per cent rise in the number of charities coming to us, asking for help to provide a vital lifeline for many local people. These development plans mean that will be able to continue to grow and boost the number of people that we can reach.
“This is a great first step, however, there is always more to be done to develop to help society’s most vulnerable. We are calling on more volunteers and more charities across the region to come forward in order for us to make the most of FareShare’s new plans.”
Launched in 2010, FareShare Cymru North Wales supports charities across the region. Ranging from the homeless; people dealing with substance abuse at drop-ins; older people in luncheon clubs or vulnerable children and young people at breakfast and after school clubs, FareShare Cymru North Wales provides much-needed food to the area’s most deprived people.
To find out more please visit www.fareshare.org.uk.