Community groups and charities to benefit from Waitrose food

Sunday 10 June 2018

Waitrose is starting to tackle food waste and support vulnerable islanders in one go, by donating surplus products to local community groups and charities, with the launch of its FareShare FoodCloud.

The first recipients are The Guernsey Welfare Service, Les Voies School, Little Angles Preschool, Sunshine Nursery and Little Learners Day Centre who will all have the opportunity to collect products from Waitrose Admiral Park and Waitrose Rohais weekly.

Waitrose has partnered with FareShare, the UK’s largest food redistribution charity, to help make the most of Waitrose money and volunteers, to provide exactly what charities and community groups need to maximise support to vulnerable people.

Sue Le Friec, Welfare Manager at the Guernsey Welfare Service, said: “We work with a variety of islanders who are in financial need. This includes single-parent families, pensioners, people with disabilities or long-term medical conditions and families on low incomes who may find themselves with unexpected medical or household bills that put them in financial difficulty.

“We operate the largest foodbank in Guernsey, supported by many churches, individuals and businesses. To be able to collect food from Waitrose will be a great boost for our foodbank. We receive donations of mainly tinned items so to be able to have the opportunity to offer the users fresh food will be a great bonus to their nutrition.”

Ian Burdekin, Branch Manager at Waitrose Admiral Park, added that reducing food waste was a top priority for the supermarket, as is supporting local communities.

FareShare provides a range of services including a support team for charities using the FoodCloud app. They ensure only groups who can safely collect, store and prepare food are linked with a local shop. This guarantees all Waitrose surplus food will go to organisations properly equipped to provide meals to vulnerable communities.

The programme will make it easier for branches to let local charities know of surplus goods. Shops simply input details of available food into an app and connected charities receive a text alert when items are ready for collection. This will build on relationships Waitrose already have with local groups as well as recruiting new ones, with the technology making the process even simpler and quicker.

FareShare Commercial Director, Alyson Walsh, said: “We’re delighted that plans are in place to extend the FareShare Go programme across Waitrose’s retail estate. The addition of new branches to our scheme will increase the variety of food available to our local charities, as well as their collections. This is a very exciting and welcome rollout, continuing our fruitful partnership.”

The charities and community groups will also go in the Waitrose Community Matters (green tokens) scheme which donates money to local good causes, as well as volunteers from its shops.