FareShare Midlands Big Give Christmas Challenge to help provide 200,000 Meals

FROM 29^th November to 6^th December, FareShare Midlands will take part in The Big Give Christmas Challenge 2022. To meet the growing need, the region’s largest food redistribution charity wants to raise £50,000, to help deliver an extra 200,000 meals to vulnerable families and individuals living in deprived communities across the Midlands.

FareShare Midlands takes surplus food that might otherwise go to waste and redistributes it to more than 500 charities and community groups across the region. This food is a lifeline to over 67,000 local people struggling to make ends meet. 96% of these charities have seen an increase in demand since January due to the cost of living crisis, 70% are seeing new people accessing support for the first time and 87% are worried about meeting demand at Christmas.

The cost of living crisis is driving millions into food insecurity, some for the first time and others even further towards absolute poverty. Despite the Government’s claims to ‘protect the vulnerable’ this winter, for thousands of families in the Midlands, this Christmas will be the bleakest yet – children will go hungry, festivities will have to be cut back and traditions will go uncelebrated.

DONATE TO THEIR APPEAL HERE: https://bit.ly/donate-faresharemidlands.

FareShare Midlands supports projects like the Henley Grub Hub, a weekly social supermarket offering discounted food parcels; approximately £20 worth of food for a £5 membership fee. The Hub is run by the charity Moat House Community Trust and Dianne Williams, CEO of Moat House, said “the need in the community is really widespread. It’s not just people on benefits, it’s not just older people or families, it’s everybody. What’s been really noticeable over the last few weeks is the number of people who’ve come here and said they’ve never had any help. We would never have started this without FareShare Midlands and we wouldn’t still be doing it without FareShare Midlands”.

Kerry, a member of Henley Grub Hub, is 39 and lives in Coventry. Kerry has three children, the youngest is 13 and the oldest is 22. Kerry’s husband is suffering from ill health and she is his full-time carer.

Kerry said:

“He’s had cancer for a few years, but in the pandemic, we found out that it had spread to his lungs and he was in stage 4 palliative care. Things were quite challenging and difficult. I first started using Grub Hub during the middle of the pandemic. I was a little apprehensive about going but everybody was really friendly and I came away feeling quite uplifted and relieved that there are people out there that are willing to help you. It’s difficult, but it can happen to anyone at any point. Something can happen and your whole life, it’s like a bomb’s gone off and it’s turned upside down.”

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 Christmas Challenge, an annual match funding campaign that raises millions of pounds for good causes over the course of one week.

Simone Connolly, FareShare Midlands Chief Executive said:

“The soaring cost of living is having a devastating effect on local charities and their communities. Donating during the Big Give week doubles the impact of a donation – we truly need people to support our Christmas Challenge and provide local families with a warm meal and some much-needed festive cheer.”

FareShare Midlands urges anyone who would like to help, and who is thinking of donating this Christmas, to donate during The Big Give Week. Doing so means that their donation will be doubled. The Big Give Christmas Challenge Week takes place between 12.00 pm 29th November 2022 and 12.00 pm 6th December 2022 and donations can be made here: https://bit.ly/donate-faresharemidlands.

You can find out more about FareShare Midlands here: https://faresharemidlands.org.uk/.