News / FareShare South West
Bristol’s emergency food operation extended as need soars
An emergency food distribution operation that has prevented thousands of people from falling through the cracks is to be extended as need continues to spiral.
Foodstock 2020 launched in November with a remit to provide a safety net to people struggling to make ends meet and a target to distribute enough food for one million meals by mid-February.
Three months on and charity bosses say the need for emergency food provision continues to soar in the city and they have now set a new target to deliver enough food for 2.5 million meals by the end of March.
is needed now More than ever
Working out of a temporary warehouse provided by Ashton Gate Stadium, FareShare South West is spearheading the mammoth efforts to tackle food poverty in the region.
The charity’s CEO Julian Mines says the impact of the pandemic are set to continue well into 2021.
“The frontline charities, schools and settings who get this food are clearly telling us that need is continuing to soar in their communities,” said Julian.
“This is no surprise, particularly considering the most recent lockdown. We are fortunate to have had more food committed to us by DEFRA, meaning along with important local partnerships with food businesses, we can continue receiving and redistributing emergency food at scale right up until the end of March.
“What we know is that in times of lockdown many services struggle to continue offering food support in ways they perhaps can outside of those rules and therefore our food becomes a vital resource, and one we know has prevented many thousands in Bristol and beyond from falling through the cracks and into more complex issues relating to food poverty.”
He added the citywide effort to provide emergency food would not have been possible without the support from local businesses, individual donations and volunteers.
An initial fundraising target of £20,000 for the FoodStock 2020 operation has almost been met but FareShare is hoping to raise an additional £10,000 to cover the costs of extending the programme.
Although the charity will be scaling back the emergency work in April, the provision will remain much higher than pre-Covid so the next challenge will be to scale up core operations quickly in the coming months once temporary resources are no longer available.
People can donate to the emergency fund via www.faresharesouthwest.org.uk/foodstock-2020/#donate
Main photo by Ellie Pipe
Read more: Mammoth effort to meet spiralling demand as food poverty in Bristol soars
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