We estimate that 50 Million meals have been contributed towards using the food we intercept in the 26 years that FareShare Yorkshire has been serving frontline charities and community groups across Yorkshire. What you may not realise is that over 32 Million of those meals have been enabled in the last 8 years alone.

This is testament to an explosion in the depth, breadth and complexity of needs presented by people in hardship to community centres, hospices, shelters, refuges, soup kitchens, breakfast clubs, lunch clubs and many more vital provisions. It is also a deep reflection of the tireless work and long-term dedication of amazing volunteers, who have made our charity what it is, and without whom we would cease to exist tomorrow.

Our Trustees and Volunteers have risen to the immense challenges of the last 8 years and grown FareShare Yorkshire to be an effective first responder to the food needs of tens of thousands of people each week and the hundreds of charities they turn to for a lifeline when they have fallen through the cracks.

This is done using food that companies would otherwise destroy due to e.g., minimal shelf life, packaging or weight errors, forecasting errors, cancelled orders, end of line goods, part picked pallets, new product development and numerous other reasons.

Surplus food cannot fix poverty but we see firsthand the immense power it has to alleviate the worst symptoms of hunger and hardship in large numbers of communities across Yorkshire – all powered by volunteers, to whom we want to express our most sincere admiration and thanks.

Jonathan Williams, Chief Executive Officer