Food waste charity FareShare Sussex & Surrey is appealing for businesses to provide support as it expands its vital services across Sussex and Surrey during the cost-of-living crisis
In its 2023 Impact Report, the charity warned food inflation remained high, while food supply was unpredictable, at a time when vulnerable people need its help the most.
Demand for FareShare Sussex & Surrey’s services was increasing, with a waiting list of charities and groups catering for children and adults whose mental and physical health is suffering because they are going hungry.
Dan Slatter, CEO of FareShare Sussex & Surrey, said: “We are appealing to businesses to help us feed those in need throughout Surrey and Sussex during a period of rampant food inflation and a cost-of-living crisis which has hit the most vulnerable members of our community the hardest.
“The charities and groups our food is delivered to are a lifeline for the hidden minority in this affluent part of the country.
“Areas with above average levels of homelessness, alcohol and substance abuse, single parent families, elderly people and the rural poor in Sussex and Surrey are at the sharp end of rampant inflation and the worst drop in living standards since the 1950s.”
FareShare Sussex & Surrey rescues and redistributes surplus food, saving waste, reducing carbon emissions and fighting hunger, supporting more than 150 local organisations.
The charity helps those who live in areas with the highest levels of deprivation, working with groups that provide healthy meals and wrap-around support such as advice, guidance, health support, counselling and befriending to help break the cycle of poverty.
In 2022 alone, the team worked alongside more than 150 active volunteers to deliver 1,014 tonnes of nutritious quality surplus food across the region and 2.4 million meals.
FareShare Sussex & Surrey is working with local charities, community partners and Surrey County Council to open a new warehouse and depot in Surrey later this year, to enable them to take different types of food for example frozen produce which they otherwise could not accept.
The charity is appealing for businesses to volunteer, fundraise, make donations and supply surplus food which will enable it to help people in need.
Rachel Kelley, CEO of Higgidy in Shoreham, said: “We’ve been donating any extra pies, quiches and rolls to FareShare Sussex & Surrey since we first started back in 2004. We believe no good food should go to waste and FareShare Sussex & Surrey felt like the perfect fit to help us with this.
“We can’t believe this partnership is almost 20 years old, and over the years, our relationship has grown to support each other.
“As well as donating our delicious pies, we have collaborated on sustainability issues and the Higgidy team have enjoyed volunteering at the FareShare Sussex & Surrey warehouse, seeing first-hand what happens to our donated stock.
“It really is a blooming partnership, and we are excited for what we can achieve together in the years ahead.”
For more information and download the Impact Report, click here.
