The Cumberland joins Fareshare Glasgow to tackle food poverty
Members of The Cumberland's Commercial team gave a helping hand as they partnered with FareShare to help address food poverty across the Glasgow city region.
The Commercial team attended FareShare Glasgow and the West of Scotland’s distribution centre on South Street, where they assisted in unloading and repackaging essential food items for redistribution to community groups who provide meals to vulnerable individuals in the area.
With our 175th anniversary this year, the partnership with FareShare forms part of our Kinder Banking approach, which puts people at the heart of what it does.
It’s an approach which the Commercial team has held throughout its 20 years of supporting Hospitality businesses, and with The Cumberland providing every colleague with a day a year to volunteer with an organisation of their choosing, the team chose to support FareShare in tackling the issue of food poverty following the charity’s urgent appeal for volunteers.
The largest redistribution charity in Scotland, FareShare Glasgow and the West of Scotland supports those who are affected by food insecurity, providing quality surplus food to organisations including schools, homeless hostels, and community centres.
With its regional centre managed by Move On, a charity which supports people to achieve personal goals, FareShare Glasgow and the West of Scotland covers 13 local authority areas, containing 52% of the population in Scotland, and reaching over 80,000 beneficiaries each week.
The Cumberland’s support is the latest in an ongoing partnership which has seen the building society support FareShare.
Since June 2023, The Cumberland has donated £500,000 through its ‘Kinder Kind of Kitchen’ initiative between FareShare Lancashire and Cumbria, and FareShare Glasgow and the West of Scotland, to help serve hot meals and provide food to people in those regions who are experiencing food insecurity.
As well as helping to provide surplus food, the initiative also saw pet food, toiletries and baby food distributed to those in need.
In partnership with FareShare Glasgow and the West of Scotland, our Kinder Kind of Kitchen initiative marked World Kindness Day in November last year by seeing 300 cups of tomato soup handed out at its Annan branch, while volunteers delivered a further 100 to workers at nearby businesses.
The recipe for the tomato soup came from Inna Dorofeieva, who fled Kiev in 2022 with her teenage son to escape the Russian-Ukraine conflict, before settling in Dumfries and becoming a volunteer at Kate’s Kitchen.
Scott McKerracher, Head of Commercial at The Cumberland, said: “At The Cumberland, our Kinder Banking commitment is all about making sure banking goes beyond financial transactions—we believe it should actively contribute to building stronger, more resilient communities.
“We’re thrilled to give our support in Glasgow. Our team had the opportunity to get involved and help make a real difference in addressing food insecurity across the city, as well as witness the incredible work FareShare does every day to tackle hunger and reduce waste.
“We’re incredibly proud of the strong relationship we have with FareShare and the assistance we can give to help prevent people from going hungry.”
Jim Burns, Director of Operations at Move On, said: “The Cumberland’s support is so important to us and makes a huge difference as we look to reach those in the community who are affected by food insecurity.
“Not only have they assisted us through the Kinder Kitchen initiative, but they get involved with hands-on support which is invaluable.
“We are hugely grateful to everyone from the Commercial team who volunteered at our Glasgow depot, they have made a big difference to those across the city who rely on us for support.”
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