Foodbank charity Fareshare has opened a permanent distribution warehouse in Plymouth, Devon.
The new site is expected to redistribute more than one million meals to people across the South West each year. FareShare, takes good-to-eat surplus food, unsold or unwanted by the food industry, and redistributes it through a network of more than 10,500 charities and community groups, already operates 30 regional centres across the UK.
Lindsay Boswell, CEO, FareShare UK said: “The new Plymouth warehouse will allow us to create relationships with new suppliers and get good-to-eat surplus from the food industry onto people’s plates, tackling food insecurity and the unnecessary wasting of good food.”
Shelley Wright, Head of Region for Devon and Cornwall, said: “Over the past four years, this has been a real community effort, collaborating with local charities and food companies to unlock a new supply of affordable food. To reach the most people possible, we need to have all parts of the operations running. So, we are looking for volunteers who would like to help in the warehouse and drive vans, as well as local food companies who would like to partner with us to reduce waste while helping the local community.”
FareShare South West, which will operate the warehouse, hopes the new premises will not only help stop people going hungry at this tough time, but also enable communities to be more resilient long term.
A recent survey by FareShare of the thousands of charities and community groups it supports across the UK, showed that 90% have been affected by the cost of living crisis.
