The Cumberland is making its biggest-ever charity donation, committing £500,000 over two years to help combat food poverty.
Launched in June 2023, our Kinder Kind of Kitchen community initiative supports people to overcome the main challenge many people across Cumbria and Lancashire face daily: food poverty. Because when times get tough, this is a kinder kind of place.
Since June 2023, we have donated £500,000 between FareShare Lancashire and Cumbria and FareShare Glasgow and the West of Scotland to offer funding to every one of FareShare’s Community Food Members in Cumbria, and some in Lancashire and Dumfries and Galloway. This helps to serve hot meals and provide food to people in the region who are experiencing food poverty.
In 2023, our pledge for votes fund supported FareShare Lancashire and Cumbria. We donated a fund to provide fridges, freezers and chiller cabinets to members who need them.
FareShare is the UK’s national network of charitable food redistributors. They take surplus food from the food industry and get it to charities and community groups who need it. In Lancashire and Cumbria, FareShare is operated by the charity Recycling Lives Social Enterprise. From their distribution centre in Preston, they deliver thousands of tonnes of food providing millions of meals to communities across the counties every year. You can read more about what they do on their website.
In Southwest Scotland, FareShare is operated by the charity Move On based in Glasgow. You can read more on what they do here.
FareShare supports Community Food Members (CFMs). This can include kitchens serving hot food, foodbanks, community supermarkets, breakfast clubs, and more. They get a range of fresh, frozen, ambient and chilled produce during weekly deliveries to distribute to people in need.
FareShare Lancashire and Cumbria and FareShare Glasgow and the West of Scotland already operate in the area, so our donation will help deliver, enhance and expand this important work. The donation will allow CFMs to invest in more food or expand their provision for our communities.
In Cumbria and Lancashire, please contact CFM@recyclinglives.org.
In Southwest Scotland, please contact fareshareteam@moveon.org.uk.