Southampton Football Club and Saints Foundation have linked with FareShare, the UK’s national network of charitable food re-distributors, to cook and deliver a range of 1,000 meals each week for people in need across the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The club will commit a significant amount of financial and human resource to the initiative, providing ingredients, packaging and a team of expert chefs, who will create a range of healthy, nutritious and well-balanced dishes that FareShare will then help supply to vulnerable people who are struggling to gain access to food in Southampton and the immediately-surrounding areas.
Saints Foundation will also provide volunteers to FareShare each day, to support across their entire operation.
The project, which forms part of the club’s new Saints As One campaign, will initially cover the next 12 weeks, to align with the suggested period of isolation for the most at-risk members of society.
The first batch of meals were picked up last Friday and distributed across the following seven days, before subsequent pick-ups at the same time each week thereafter.
FareShare is made up of 17 independent organisations, which take good-quality surplus food from across the food industry and ensure it reaches almost 11,000 charities and community groups nationwide – all supporting vulnerable people, ranging from children to the elderly, and including those experiencing homelessness, mental health difficulties, domestic violence, loneliness and poverty.
As part of their wider operation, this initiative will see them take 12,000 meals to a variety of organisations for them to distribute to their communities, including youngsters living in poverty who have no access to school meals, older people in lieu of their usual lunch clubs, and also charities such as YMCA and Society of St James, which helps vulnerable adults including those who are homeless.
Greg Baker, Head of Saints Foundation and Community Partnerships, said: “We are incredibly pleased to be working with FareShare to provide additional support to some of the most vulnerable members of our society at this difficult time.
“Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the need for food to support vulnerable groups has increased significantly, while at the same time surplus from the industry has diminished. These two factors have combined to leave many of our most isolated and at-risk individuals across the community struggling for food, particularly hot, nutritious and balanced meals.
“We hope, therefore, that this scheme will provide some valuable help to people in real need at this time, and we would also like to express our thanks to Southampton City Council for giving us permission to use the stadium to cook and prepare the food.”
Claire Martin, Development Manager at FareShare Southern Central, said: “FareShare already helps to feed over 10,000 people in need each week across Hampshire and Dorset – and we anticipate that figure to increase significantly over the coming weeks and months as the coronavirus outbreak unfolds.
“Our vital service is needed now more than ever, so we are grateful to have the support of Southampton Football Club and Saints Foundation at this critical time which will help us continue to reach those most vulnerable in our communities.”
For more information on our Saints As One campaign, please click here: https://www.southamptonfc.com/news/2020-03-27/southampton-football-club-saints-foundation-saints-as-one-campaign.
