Posted:
Wednesday - April 20, 2022
2:40 pm
• 8.4m people in the UK are struggling to eat.
• FareShare Midlands is raising funds to distribute 40,000 meals to vulnerable families hit by the cost of living crisis.
• Each £1 donated will provide 8 meals.
Between Friday 22nd April and Friday 29th April, FareShare Midlands has been selected to participate in The Green Match Fund 2022 online. The food redistribution charity is aiming to raise £10,000 in matched funding, to deliver 40,000 meals to people in the Midlands struggling with the rising cost of food and energy. By using surplus food in this way, FareShare Midlands will also stop 17 tonnes of food from being wasted.
FareShare Midlands turns an environmental problem into a social solution. The charity works with the food industry to save good-to-eat surplus food from going to waste. This nutritious food is then redistributed to local community organisations who support the poorest families currently being overwhelmed by hunger and poverty.
Right now 14.5 million people in the UK (22% of the population) are living in poverty. 4.3 million are children (31% of all children in the UK). These numbers continue to climb as the cost of living escalates. People are having to make terrible choices - whether to pay bills, fill up the car or keep the fridge full.
While many are going hungry, 33% of all the food grown in the world is wasted, and in the UK, food production and waste generates 35% of our total CO2 emissions.
The Big Give is a registered charity and match funding platform. It specialises in bringing charities, philanthropists and the public together to multiply their impact. Each year, The Big Give runs The Green Match Fund, an annual match funding campaign which raises millions of pounds for good causes over the course of one week. During this week each donation to the participating environmental charities is doubled.
Simone Connolly, FareShare Midlands CEO said “the challenges which arose during the COVID19 pandemic were enormous. Having survived those, our Community Food Members now find themselves battling to support local people struggling with worsening financial situations. Anyone donating to our Green Match Fund campaign will provide vulnerable families with food that is desperately needed at the moment. At the same time, they will be supporting our environmental mission to prevent unnecessary food waste”.
James Henman, a single dad from Chesterfield said “Everything’s going up – food, taxes, heating – and I’m really worried about what it’ll be like in winter. If I get a big bill I arrange to pay off a certain amount every month. But the council are also taking extra money out next month so I’m having to pay their bills, while other bills are going up.”
Anyone who wants to help, and who is thinking of donating at this time, can donate during The Green Match Fund Week. Doing so means that their donation will be doubled. The Green Match Fund Week takes place between 12.00 pm 22nd April 2022 and 12.00 pm 29th April 2022 and donations can be made by visiting the Big Give website.
You can find out more about FareShare Midlands by visiting the website.
END
PHOTO: James Henman, single dad from Chesterfield
To discuss this press release please contact
Stella Broster
Communications Manager
(She/Her)
FareShare Midlands
a: Unit 7, Metro Triangle, Mount St, Nechells, Birmingham B7 5QT
e: communications@faresharemidlands.org.uk
m: 07510 318837
