Local charities and community groups are overwhelmed by skyrocketing demand, which will have a devastating impact on thousands of school children who will miss out on free food this summer. To prevent this, we urgently need donations to get nutritious food to school children over the summer.

Fusion21 Foundation has provided a vital grant of £30,000 to FareShare Midlands, to enable the charity to extend the reach and impact of the innovative Community Meals Service across the Midlands. This important next step will allow the volume of surplus food accepted to grow, the number of meals produced to increase and the amount of charitable and not-for-profit organisations in receipt of the meals to also rise.

In honour of Volunteers' Week (1st to 7th June), at FareShare Midlands we want to celebrate our volunteers’ incredible impact on our mission to maximise the social value of surplus food. Their hard work and dedication not only make a tangible difference in our community, but also inspire others to join us to fight hunger, tackle waste and create opportunities.

We are aware of the immense pressures on the local charities and community organisations that we support. We understand that many of you are facing particularly challenging times, when the number of people coming to you for help is rising. We know that many of you are concerned about the current food situation and, while we can’t see into the future, we can keep you as informed as possible and reassure you that FareShare Midlands and FareShare UK are doing all that we can to navigate this crisis.

Last year FareShare Midlands redistributed almost 6,000 tonnes of good-to-eat surplus food – that’s the equivalent of approximately 1,000 elephants! Clearly, not all of this is simply what you might find in the “reduced to clear” area in your local supermarket. Surplus food is, put simply, food that is surplus to requirement – and can be found at any stage of the food production chain, including: farms and growers, production and manufacturers, supermarkets and grocery stores, and hospitality and event providers.

Simone Connolly recently spoke to Feron Jayawardene from Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce about her journey from volunteer to Chief Executive, and the difficulties facing the charity

Andy Parkinson has made the decision to step down as FareShare Midlands Head of Operations and Food at the end of June.

FareShare welcomes German publication, Der Spiegel, to Birmingham depot to learn about food insecurity in the UK

FareShare - the UK's biggest charity fighting hunger and food waste - is calling on farmers, food producers and retailers in the Midlands to help get good-to-eat food, which may otherwise go to waste, to its network of over 500 charities.