FareShare Yorkshire
FareShare Yorkshire is a Barnsley based charity that tackles food waste and alleviates food poverty by supporting 300 charities and community groups across Yorkshire.
They currently have 76 volunteers who redistribute 1,250 tonnes of high-quality food each year to organisations like homeless shelters, refuges, soup kitchens and refugee support services. In 2019 that was enough food for 2.8 million meals.
Founded in 1998 the charity supports a huge variety of groups, enabling them to feed an average of 25,000 vulnerable, isolated or disadvantaged people each week.
Many volunteers come to the charity to gain accredited skills and on-the-job experience in a friendly, safe environment. In 2019 over 100 accredited forklift truck permits were achieved and 34 people moved into paid employment, often full-time.
Funding of £10,000 from the Park Springs Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund has enabled the continuation of their award-winning employability programme in Barnsley. The funding will help cover the staff costs for the extensive training they provide.
Through their employment programme, FareShare helps individuals to grow in confidence, gain tangible qualifications and develop resilience that helps them for the rest of their lives.
The training lasts for 8 to 12 weeks in which time participants help support deliveries on the chilled vans, picking and packing food and sorting through pallets and crates of surplus.
During the duration of the SYCF grant FareShare Yorkshire was able to support an additional 22 charities across South Yorkshire with £960,000 worth of in-date surplus food.
Success story
One man came to FareShare Yorkshire after a long career in a specialised industry. He had been made redundant shortly before Christmas and was unable to find new employment with the skills and experience he had. As soon as he completed the programme at FareShare Yorkshire he was able to move straight into full-time work and once more support his family.
Other success stories included several people who had never worked before but thanks to the programme were empowered to find and remain in full-time work as well.
FareShare Yorkshire still receives many requests for weekly access to surplus food from vital
services that need help. In response the charity is continuing to grow so it can continue to meet the pressing local need on a larger scale.
The charity is also launching the Full Crumb Kitchen to help Individuals who struggle to cook nutritious meals on a tight budget. This new initiative will give many food insecure people across South Yorkshire the confidence and skills they need to use healthy ingredients instead of skipping meals or eating unhealthy options.
Thank you to the Foundation for supporting us. You have empowered us to deliver this employability programme for the last two years and made a huge difference to not only individuals in the area but frontline organisations who need the food we intercept.
Jonathan Williams, Office and Development Manager
Find out more
Funding from the Parks Spring Windfarm Community Fund can help nurture your local project to help you achieve your goals.