As the HM Government page says: Disability Confident organisations play a leading role in changing attitudes for the better. They’re changing behaviour and cultures in their own businesses, networks and communities, and reaping the benefits of inclusive recruitment practices.

The scheme helps employers recruit and retain great people, and:

• draw from the widest possible pool of talent
• secure high quality staff who are skilled, loyal and hard working
• improve employee morale and commitment by demonstrating that you treat all employees fairly

It also helps customers and other businesses identify those employers who are committed to equality in the workplace.

FareShare Cymru is at level 1 Disability Confident Committed, from this level we can build our skills and experience in bringing on volunteers and staff, helping them and us achieve our best together. We have always striven to be as disability inclusive as we can be, by being part of this scheme we can demonstrate and celebrate our commitment, share our experience and help others along the path. Got to be good!

The post We are a Disability Confident Organisation appeared first on FareShare Cymru.

“People are thankful that they have a safe place to come, they know that if they come to us that we’ll help them”

Kate McShane, Project Manager

The community café has recently reopened after COVID restrictions. It now has 50-60 people visiting every week, and that number is growing week on week. The community café provide meals for anyone who needs one, for a suggested donation or for free. On Friday mornings the community café runs their Friendship Centre, with up to 40 people visiting. The Friendship Centre provides a space for people who might be socialy isolated to come and make friends over a warm meal.

“I have seen people accessing our community café and accessing the meals they were lonely they had issues with social isolation, and people come to the community cafe because it provides them with an opportunity to make new friends”

Kate McShane, Project Manager

As part of the Friendship Centre, craft sessions are run by Myrtle Houses’ artist in residence. In the sessions visitors create items that are of value to them. There are also dance and movement classes, run during the Friendship Centre, to encourage older service users to move and improve their balance and core stability. The Friendship Centre has become a vital space for local people to visit.

“It gives me a break from my husband, I need a break, cos he’s got health problems and I think he’s got a bit of dementia, I am finding it hard, and I feel if I have a break I can cope with it better”

Beverly, Service User

A lot of the food used in the meals at the Community Café and during the Friendship Centre, comes from FareShare Cymru and FareShare Go. The wide variety of food has meant those visiting Myrtle House are able to have a warm healthy meal, some of whom might not have eaten that day. As the food from FareShare Cymru varies week to week, the café no longer runs on a set menu, and now offers visitors a variety, with different meals each day.

“before it was set, and now it’s like oh what’s come in today, what’s for dinner today”

Susan, Volunteer

As Myrtle House have to raise all the money they need for their community projects, signing up as a FareShare Cymru member has saved them money which they have reinvested elsewhere. The food has also enabled Myrtle House to provide people with access to fresh food, whilst also feeding more people overall.

“It’s benefitted us financial because we have to raise the money to do all of our community work, and to feed people costs so the FareShare food has really helped”

Kate McShane, Project Manager

Through their community café and Friendship centre, Myrtle House are providing a friendly face and comfortable space over a hot meal, for those in need in their community.

“I think Myrtle House runs on good food, good conversation and good company”

Carol Roberts, Foodbank Coordinator

The post “You’ve got to eat together as a family, and that’s what we do here” appeared first on FareShare Cymru.

“Foodshare fulfils a really important purpose in our local community”

Angela Baker-Earle, Foodshare Coordinator 

Foodshare Llantwit is just one of the projects held at the CF61 centre. As well as being able to access fresh and chilled food for free once a week, residents can benefit from a regular community café, seed swap, lending library and zero waste shop. This makes CF61 even more vital for the area.  

“I think the more things we can do whilst Foodshare is going on, it creates much more of a community effect”

Angela Baker-Earle, Foodshare Coordinator 

Many people visit Foodshare Llantwit because they are struggling with the increases in cost of living and, by using the service, they have access to food they might not otherwise have been able to afford.  

“I don’t tend to buy as much fresh stuff because it is so so expensive. I’ve picked up raspberries here today. In the normal shop, it’s so expensive it puts me off buying it.” 

Michelle,  FoodShare service user 

Residents of Llantwit Major are limited in the places they can shop locally, and therefore might be forced in to paying prices they can’t afford. Foodshare Llantwit aims to provide a stop gap for individuals who struggle financially with their weekly shop, whilst also supporting those who would have no food without the service. 

“Hopefully by having this programme, we can stop some people from going over into that real desperate need of not having enough food”

Angela Baker-Earle, Foodshare Coordinator

FareShare Cymru aims to provide all members with a wide variety of foods and fresh produce, depending on what surplus food is available. This means users of Foodshare Llantwit aren’t limited on choice. 

“Just because you can’t afford food doesn’t mean you don’t have the right to make choices about what you’d like to eat, what you’d like to feed your family. Fareshare allow us to provide more of a choice, fresher food and more protein options”  

Angela Baker-Earle, Foodshare Coordinator

Foodshare Llantwit has come out of a project called Rebuild that start over 2 years ago, to support people living in Llantwit Major. Foodshare now has around 45 weekly users and treats everyone with respect and kindness.  

“Last week we had lots of flowers because it was after Mother’s Day…and the number of people that were really happy to just walk away with a bunch of flowers. It’s just about the little things. And for people using Foodshare quite often those things are as important as getting the food.”

Angela Baker-Earle, Foodshare Coordinator 

The post Foodshare fulfilling an important purpose in Llantwit Major appeared first on FareShare Cymru.

We have been working with FareShare since the very beginning” . “We sent out hundreds of letters when we first opened to local businesses to see if any of them would give us their wasted food, and literally no one replied. So we started looking at other models, and that’s when we discovered FareShare. 

Ellie Phillips, Team Leader at Matthew’s House

With its partnership with FareShare, Matthew’s House can keep its organisation running. “We are located in quite a big church, so our bills are very expensive. If we had to pay for food, it would be a different ball game altogether.” 

Creating delicious cuisines 

We get bakery products and root vegetables from the supermarkets. With FareShare Cymru, we get a lot more meat, fish and dairy

Ellie Phillips

With the help of FareShare ingredients, Matt’s Cafe has gone from serving 30 meals a day to 300. The organisation has 110 volunteers and four staff members who transform FareShare ingredients into tasty, nutritious and hearty meals.  

With these food supplies, the team strives to be creative and use as many ingredients as possible. 

[We will use] fresh salads and fruits as part of an accompaniment to the main menu. We don’t do a breakfast anymore, but pre-COVID, we used to do a breakfast and hope to in the future. “We’ve also made bread and butter pudding, fish pies, chillies, curries, all sorts of things. We use everything we get. We got a giant watermelon the other week, and we had a very big donation of meringue nests, which was something different. We’ve also had venison burgers, which was quite a unique [menu item]

Ellie Phillips

Supporting the community during unprecedented times 

When the world entered lockdown in March 2020, Matthew’s House continued supplying the community with food. As restrictions started to lift, Matthew’s House opened its outdoor area as a takeaway service, now providing food to about 120 people per day.  

With the pandemic still lingering and the increase in the cost of living prices across the U.K., Matthew’s House created a food share of items they didn’t need for their menu. 

People shouldn’t have to make the sacrifice between food and basic comfort.” “And people are definitely having trouble [affording things]. We’re hearing a lot of people comment about the cost of utilities being too high, so they’re coming to us for help with groceries. We’ve seen a lot more people relying on our food share than we used to.

Ellie Phillips

Bonding over food 

In addition to tackling food poverty, Matt’s Cafe is a safe space for people to enjoy a hot meal and the company of others. 

I think that people really bond over food. It’s an easy way to make someone smile and make people open up a little bit. When you have a full belly, it makes a huge difference to your overall well-being.” “We have really brought the community closer together, and we literally wouldn’t be able to do [any of it] without FareShare.

Ellie Phillips

The post Matthew’s House – How food brings the community together appeared first on FareShare Cymru.

When staff have grown and nurtured a crop there is nothing worse for them than seeing food wasted. Rather than leaving them in the field we decided that it would be a good idea to donate them to this fantastic initiative by FareShare. The Surplus with Purpose initiative offers a solution to the problem of food waste, by allowing us to cover our own harvesting and labour costs for donating otherwise commercially unviable surplus.  

Matthew Thomas, National Account Manager at Puffin Produce

FareShare Cymru believe that food that is still edible is always better feeding people and Puffin agree with this ethos. The cauliflower will now be distributed to vulnerable people here in Wales and also amongst our UK-wide network of community groups and charities. 

In an increasingly uncertain world, the opportunity to give surplus food to charity has never been more important. The Surplus with Purpose initiative is easy to administer and the FareShare team are also a pleasure to work with. 

Matthew Thomas, National Account Manager at Puffin Produce

When an estimated 2m of the 3.6m tonnes of food wasted across the food industry is still good to eat, FareShare wants to ensure that it’s never cheaper to throw away good, nutritious food than to donate it vulnerable people. 

The Surplus with Purpose Cymru fund allowed producers, growers and manufacturers of all sizes to donate their edible surplus. The fund could be used to cover the costs of harvesting, labour, storage, packaging or transporting surplus food.  

Not only do these donations help people in genuine need, but they also help towards our company goal of reducing food waste in line with our commitment to the Courtauld Agreement 2025.

Matthew Thomas, National Account Manager at Puffin Produce

In addition to being good for people, reducing your business’s food waste levels is good for the planet. Through their donation of over 32 tonnes of surplus cauliflower, Puffin Produce has used the fund to prevent 94.163 tonnes of CO2 from being needlessly emitted, and over 49 million litres of water from going to waste from growing it.  

To discuss donating your food business’s surplus food, or for further questions, please get in touch via food@fareshare.cymru  

The post Puffin Produce: Doing good with the Surplus with Purpose Cymru fund appeared first on FareShare Cymru.

South Caernarfon Creameries is Wales’ oldest dairy co-op which has been farmer-owned since 1938. They use only locally sourced milk to produce a range of top-quality award-winning Welsh butter and cheese.  

At SCC we attend numerous trade and consumer shows throughout the year. As part of these activities, we often have a display of products (that are) unable to re-enter the supply chain. FareShare Cymru provides an excellent opportunity for us not to waste these products, whilst also supporting local charities and the community. 

Kirstie Jones, Marketing Manager, South Caernarfon Creameries 

FareShare Cymru is incredibly grateful for the support we’ve received from South Caernarfon Creameries. High-quality sources of protein are warmly welcomed by our community groups and charity members, with cheese often being a luxury item. SCC is playing a key part in helping us tackle food waste and fight hunger together. 

The economic climate at the minute is putting many families into food and energy poverty across Wales. This is going to be magnified further with the increase in energy price caps due in April. By donating edible food surplus to FareShare Cymru, you’re not only minimizing the impact on the environment and reducing waste but supporting the most in need in the community. 

Kirstie Jones, Marketing Manager, South Caernarfon Creameries 

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Cornelly Luncheon Club is a heart-warming place; friends catching up with each other over tasty food prepared by volunteers with huge smiles on their faces. The lunch happens twice a week with the whole community welcome to enjoy a three-course meal for £5.  

We enjoy the company. The soup is beautiful, the food is beautiful. You can’t fault it.

June Ball, diner at Cornelly Luncheon Club 

FareShare Cymru provides Cornelly Luncheon Club good quality, surplus food each week which is then turned into a meal by volunteer chefs.  

On average, around 30 people attend each lunch club, with most being of an older generation. As well as providing a hot meal, the club helps tackle isolation and loneliness.  

It’s good value for money, you get a good meal, and you get to meet people as well.

John Gillard, diner at Cornelly Luncheon Club

Liam Turner volunteers each Tuesday, on one of his days off from his professional chef job. Liam says he knows the partnership between the Cornelly Luncheon Club and FareShare Cymru is essential to the community, and one they wouldn’t want to lose.  

Many diners come in, it’s a social gathering for them and there’s a number who perhaps are widowed. It’s vital for a lot of the older diners who perhaps wouldn’t come out otherwise. But without Fareshare, that might not be able to happen.

Liam Turner, volunteer chef at Cornelly Luncheon Club

One of the main reasons the luncheon club uses FareShare Cymru is due to the cost. On average the food FareShare Cymru members receive is 5-10 times the value of the monthly membership fee. Liam says without FareShare they would have to increase the price and he’s unsure whether diners would then attend.  

We couldn’t necessarily go out and buy all the produce you provide us. We couldn’t afford to. We got salmon in last week, which is so expensive we couldn’t go out and buy it.

Liam Turner, volunteer chef at Cornelly Luncheon Club

Liam volunteers because he enjoys giving something back to the community. He also loves the task of making a meal out of surplus food. 

I design my menus around what Fareshare sends us. I’m always thinking ‘what goodies have they sent us this week?’ It sometimes can be a challenge but as a chef I quite enjoy it, because you can see what comes in and design your menus around it.

Liam Turner, volunteer chef at Cornelly Luncheon Club 

FareShare Cymru is proud to help Cornelly Luncheon Club support the community. If you would like to get involved, either to become a member, donate food or volunteer to distribute food, please get in contact.  

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Micro Acres Wales is a small, urban farm based outside of Pontypridd, which began growing microgreens in 2021. Microgreens are a very nutrient-dense, rich source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that can be used in a range of things such as salads, dressings and sandwiches.

Micro Acres Wales began when one of their founders, Chris, was diagnosed with the rare neurological condition, ‘Ataxia’. Along with his health concerns, a family of fussy eaters inspired Chris to utilize his ‘green fingers’ and he began growing microgreens to make sure the whole family were eating nutritiously. 

Micro Acres Wales now supply their microgreens to private customers, chefs, catering companies, delicatessens and cafes. They have also begun to attend farmer’s markets, which sometimes leaves them with surplus items that were no longer commercially viable.

As a growing business with a firm ethos of sustainability at its heart, Micro Acres Wales wanted to reduce their waste levels, and make sure that its microgreens were going to good use.

Having reached out to FareShare Cymru, we explored the possibility of using the Surplus With Purpose Cymru Fund to make it cost-neutral for them to donate their microgreens, providing nutrient-rich products for distribution across our network. FareShare Cymru was able to reimburse the costs associated with both the harvesting of the microgreens and the labour costs of packaging them in a ‘distribution-ready’ state.

“We really value being able to put any of our surplus produce to good use, and being able to access the Surplus with Purpose Cymru Fund has been invaluable in this. As a growing firm, we need to balance doing the socially responsible thing with managing our own costs and outgoings. The Surplus with Purpose Cymru fund allows us to make sure that even when our microgreens are no longer commercially viable, or are approaching their end of life but are still perfectly safe to consume, they can do a lot of good in supporting vulnerable people”.

Donna Graves, the co-founder of Micro Acres Wales

“We at FareShare Cymru fully recognize how essential it is that people have access to fresh vegetables and produce as part of their diet. Unfortunately, vulnerable communities often find these the most difficult to access. We are delighted to be able to work with Micro Acres Wales to ensure that their microgreens are able to add vital nutrients to the diet of our network of members across Wales.”

Sarah Germain, CEO of FareShare Cymru

To find out how you could make it cost-neutral to donate your businesses’ food surplus using our Surplus with Purpose Cymru fund, click here.

The post Nutrient-rich microgreens donated to charity thanks to the Surplus with Purpose Cymru Fund. appeared first on FareShare Cymru.

Zorba Delicacies is a multi-million-pound food manufacturer based in Ebbw Vale, South Wales making a variety of dips, houmous’, soups, meal pots and sandwiches. Due to last-minute order changes, they occasionally have surplus stock and, as their product is fresh, chilled food, it could be easily wasted due to its short shelf life.   

Zorba has been donating to Fareshare Cymru since August 2021 as they believe offering their surplus stock to charity is the right thing to do. FareShare Cymru then distributes the surplus food to over 170 community food groups across South Wales.  

It helps reduce our waste on-site, but also, in an age where there are so many global concerns, doing good is becoming more and more important. It seemed like a no-brainer. Fareshare does a really amazing job at turning an environmental problem into a solution.

Jacques Tasker, Commercial Executive, Zorba Delicacies  

FareShare Cymru hates seeing food going to waste so we welcome any discussion about how we can make it as easy as possible for food to be donated. We currently have our Surplus with Purpose Cymru Fund available to help with any extra costs.  

What makes Fareshare so great to work with is that they make donating surplus stock so easy. Whenever we have available stock for donation, through their friendly staff, we arrange a pickup time for one of their refrigerated vans to come and pick it up at no cost.

Jacques Tasker, Commercial Executive, Zorba Delicacies  

As well as helping prevent the surplus stock from going to landfill, Zorba’s relationship with FareShare Cymru is well received by their staff and customers. Improving staff morale is a proven reason why food businesses benefit from supporting good causes. (Charities Aid Foundation) 

FareShare Cymru is grateful for the food that Zorba donates which helps us feed thousands of vulnerable people each month. We hope our relationship will continue, to enable us to tackle food waste and hunger together. 

We couldn’t recommend Fareshare enough. They make doing good so easy for businesses like ours at not detriment to our business whatsoever. 

Jacques Tasker, Commercial Executive, Zorba Delicacies  

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“We were finding that when people met and they were chatting, everybody understood that other people have problems too. You might be able to help someone with their problem, and then someone may be able to help you with yours. You build that community spirit.”

Angela Bullard, Founder of Splott Community Volunteers

Since the pandemic, the breakfast club has adapted to a takeaway service but the need for help is higher than ever. Splott Community Volunteers help 50-80 people each week and they can see they’re making an impact.

It makes a huge difference to a lot of people. It means that they they’ve got energy. Single mums with young children who come in a bit worn down, because they’ve been feeding the children rather than themselves, and now they can feed themselves. That kind of thing we see quite a lot.

Splott Community Volunteers receive food from FareShare Cymru each week as well as picking up food from local supermarkets. When people come to get a hot breakfast roll, they can also fill a bag with fruit and veg, bakery items, ready meals etc.

We couldn’t exist without the food [from FareShare Cymru]. We really couldn’t. The supermarkets aren’t always reliable so if we hadn’t had the food from FareShare to handout last week, it would have been pretty poor show. People would have been turning up for no food.

Angela Bullard, Founder of Splott Community Volunteers

The food from FareShare Cymru is surplus that would otherwise have been wasted. It comes from farmers, manufacturers, suppliers and supermarkets. Because of the nature of the supply chain, there’s always a variety in food that Splott Community Volunteers has to offer.

It’s quite exciting every week to see what we’re going to get. We’ve been getting Marks and Spencer meals recently. They’ve gone down an absolute storm, because for some people, they are an absolute lifesaver. Yesterday we had paella and the dishes were enormous. One lady was like ‘I’ll take one of those, because that’ll feed my three kids and I don’t have to go out and buy all the ingredients together. It’s a healthy meal.’

Angela Bullard, Founder of Splott Community Volunteers

The organisation aims to provide people with healthy food whilst also teaching them food skills. Before the pandemic, they had a nutrition student working with them to help put together recipes. This is something the team hope to begin again once life returns to normal.

Splott Community Volunteers are doing great work in the community proven by the growing numbers and returning users.

“When one of our ladies first came, she was fostering a little boy. She confided that she was bringing him there because she wanted him to recognize that not all people were nasty, because he’d had a bit of a hard time. Gradually, we gained his confidence and he absolutely loved Breakfast Club. He started to trust people, he would go off with one or two of the members and play. Eventually she sent us a letter saying she couldn’t express the difference we had made in his life. And in making that difference, it had enabled her to adopt him. He still comes to visit now.”

Angela Bullard, Founder of Splott Community Volunteers

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