Asda colleagues help tackle hunger in Glasgow through partnership with FareShare

Colleagues from the Falkirk Depot today visited FareShare Glasgow with a delivery of surplus food to be distributed amongst the 24 local community food members and charities.Since September 2013, the Asda Falkirk depot has been providing Glasgow Fareshare with surplus food stock, rather than being sent back to the manufacturer - the usual process for managing surplus stock - where it tends to go to waste.
To date, over four tonnes of chilled food stock (679 cases) has been donated, and during the visit Asda colleagues from the Falkirk depot were able to lend a helping hand to FareShare staff and volunteers, sorting this food in the depot before it is redistributed to charities in Glasgow and the West of Scotland.
In addition toGlasgow Fareshare, there are alsothree additional FareShare Depots in Aberdeen,DundeeandEdinburgh - providing food to around 100 charities in total, including homeless hostels, breakfast clubs for vulnerable children and lunch clubs for the elderly.
Asda deliveries began in September and so far, FareShare Dundee and Glasgow have each received 15 pallets of food and FareShare Edinburgh has received 9 pallets. This equates to just over 53,300 meals for vulnerable people.
Alan Brown, Operations Manager at Asda Falkirk Depot, said: “It’shard to believe that in this day in age we can have families in Glasgow going hungry but it’s increasingly the case. Food poverty is a very real problem and it’s getting worse, not better. We’re pleased that our new supply chain model and work with FareShare will help feed thousands who would otherwise go to hungry.
“However we recognise that in this environment, even more needs to be done. I hope that our work will inspire other retailers to work together to find new ways of redistributing food wasted in the supply chain to those who need it most.”
Jim Burns, Deputy Director at Move On, said: “This partnership involves the redistribution of surplus food at unprecedented levels never before undertaken by a retailer on this scale in the Scotland.
“We also know that there are more people turning to charities for food than at any other time in FareShare’s history. This initiative will mean we can provide more food to more charities and will enable us to feed even more people at a time of real need.
“Not only will this programme have immense environmental impact by diverting food away from the waste stream, it will also save hundreds of charities millions of pounds a year. They will be able to reinvest these savings into providing additional support services for their beneficiaries. A breakfast club will be able to help vulnerable children learn to read and a day centre will be able to invest more in employment programmes, helping people get back on track.”

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Notes to Editors

About Asda in Scotland
Asda is Scotland’s second largest supermarket with 61 stores and depots across the country and over 20,000 colleagues serving 1.8 million customers every week.
In March 2012, Asda launched its Community Life initiative backed by £5 million of investment. Community Life is about making the communities around Asda stores the Asda miles better places to live and work for colleagues and customers. Each Asda store and depot has a Community Life Champion dedicated to volunteering and fundraising in the local community.

The FareShare partnership has opened up a raft of new opportunities for Asda s Community Life Champions to engage with charities and good causes in their area.
Asda recently won Large Company of the Year and Supporting Local Communities Local Impact Award at the Scottish Business in the Community Awards 2013.