Partnering with FareShare
To support the third pillar of our CSR policy, we’ve formed a partnership with FareShare
Food poverty in the UK continues to be a major issue
8.4 million people are struggling to access food and people are increasingly turning to the voluntary sector for help.
At the same time, at least 270,000 tonnes of perfectly edible food is wasted every year by the UK food and drink industry. This is the equivalent of 650 million meals being thrown away across the nation each year to the detriment of the environment and hungry people.
FareShare works directly with the food industry
They identify and access good-quality, in-date surplus food and redistribute it to charities and community groups who then transform it into meals for vulnerable people.
With causes as diverse as homeless shelters, women’s refuges and children’s breakfast clubs to drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres, the charities FareShare provides food to offer life changing support, as well as hot, nutritious meals. A FareShare meal is often the best and sometimes the only meal a beneficiary will eat that day.
Partnership launch
In January 2020, we launched our partnership with FareShare with a lunch and learn session, where we were able to plan fundraising events for the coming year.
We then spent a day volunteering with them: we sorted 3 tonnes of food, providing 7,143 meals for vulnerable people and saving 11 tonnes of CO2.
This food supported 30 charities, including primary school breakfast clubs, community cafes, nursery’s, food bank and hospices.
Our first fundraiser
Our first fundraising event was a ‘Love Weekend’ special over Valentine’s weekend. The main event was the ‘Show some Love’ raffle, which included amazing prizes donated by colleagues from across Methods. We also hosted a cake sale, baking contest and the chance to guess the number of love hearts in the jar.
The event raised £1,000 in one and a half days – the equivalent of 4,000 meals for people in need. An amazing way to kick off our partnership and we can’t wait for the next event!
