Food charity scaled operations by six times in 2020-2021 The publication of FareShare South West’s annual impact report revealed that they redistributed enough food for a staggering 6.1 million meals in just a 12 month period. Much of the uplift in operations was as a result of the charity’s emergency food provision at key crisis points in the pandemic year, including their FoodStock 2020 campaign which ran from November 2020 to March 2021 providing food at scale to frontline organisations, as well as ready-packed food parcels for smaller projects and initiatives.
Stepping up to deliver at this scale across the past year has not been without its challenges and has taken sleepless nights, hundreds of committed volunteers, a supportive community and staff team I am so proud of. From launching emergency warehouses in Ashton Gate football stadium and bed depots to overhauling entire processes and establishing new partnerships with frontline charities in need of our food, the effort has been monumental. More importantly, the impact has been monumental. We’ve worked with 416 frontline charities, schools and CEO of FareShare South West, Julian Mines, community groups and we estimate that our says: “The pandemic laid bare and exacerbat- redistribution has saved our partners ed the issue of food poverty that we face here £5million in average retail value, with over in the UK. In the early days of the pandemic, 50,000 people benefitting from the food.” the need for food support soared and our frontline partners – though having to operate The impact report also revealed that that the in very different ways – saw huge demand for redistribution of surplus food in 2020-2021 their services and increased need to support had avoided 2,985 tonnes of CO2e users with food provisions. Though the health emissions. crisis may have abated for now, food insecurity is still a daily reality for thousands Julian Mines continues: “With the emergency of individuals and families across our region. operations now over, we’re working hard to maintain high levels of food redistribution across the South West. We are determined to continue to be a safety net for this region. 12
