Charity takes part in 'Big Give ' Christmas challenge

FareShare Midlands is taking part in the “The Big Give Christmas Challenge 2022 ” with the aim to raise £50,000 to help deliver an extra 200,000 meals to vulnerable families and individuals living in deprived communities across the Midlands.

The challenge started last Tuesday and will continue until Tuesday, 6 December.

The Big Give is a registered charity and match funding platform. It specialises in bringing charities, philanthropists and the public together to multiply their impact. Each year, The Big Give runs the Christmas Challenge, an annual match funding campaign that raises millions of pounds for good causes over the course of one week.

FareShare Midlands takes surplus food that might otherwise go to waste, and redistributes it to more than 500 charities and community groups across the region.

This food is a lifeline to over 67,000 local people struggling to make ends meet. 96 per cent of these charities have seen an increase in demand since January due to the cost of living crisis, 70 per cent are seeing new people accessing support for the first time and 87 per cent are worried about meeting demand at Christmas.

FareShare Midlands supports projects like the Henley Grub Hub, a weekly social supermarket offering discounted food parcels; approximately £20 worth of food for a £5 membership fee.

Kerry (pictured), a member of Henley Grub Hub, is 39 and lives in Coventry. Kerry has three children, the youngest is 13 and the oldest is 22. Kerry 's husband is suffering with ill-health and she is his full-time carer.

Kerry says: “My husband had cancer for a few years, but in the pandemic we found out that it had spread to his lungs and he was in stage four palliative care. Things were quite challenging and difficult.

“I first started using Grub Hub during the middle of the pandemic. I was a little apprehensive about going but everybody was really friendly and I came away feeling quite uplifted, and relieved that there 's people out there that are willing to help you. It 's difficult, but it can happen to anyone at any point. Something can happen and your whole life, it 's like a bomb 's gone off and it 's turned upside down ”.

Simone Connolly, FareShare Midlands chief executive said: “The soaring cost of living is having a devastating effect on local charities and their communities. Donating during the Big Give week doubles the impact of a donation - we truly need people to support our Christmas Challenge and provide local families with a warm meal and some much-needed festive cheer ”.

FareShare Midlands urges anyone who would like to help, and who is thinking of donating this Christmas, to donate during The Big Give Week. Doing so means that their donation will be doubled.

Donations can be made here: https://bit.ly/donate-faresharemidlands

You can find out more about FareShare Midlands here: https://faresharemidlands.org.uk/