Fareshare are a UK charity who network with the major supermarkets and food retailers to redistribute food packages to people in need. They have several hubs throughout the UK, with Fareshare Southern operating out of their own premise in Totton and are responsible for 10% of operation in the UK.
Before COVID-19, Fareshare Southern supported people in food poverty in various communities through delivering to schools, soup kitchens and refuge hubs. On an average week, this equated to 15 tonnes of food being shipped from their Totton depot. Since the start of COVID-19, the food demand has increased to 55 tonnes and is ever increasing as this pandemic continues. When you turn this number into people, it is alarming it see how many this affects! Desperate for warehouse space and transport support, OSRL created some space out of Unit 5 at our Southampton Base for Fareshare to set up a new redistribution hub for ambient food. OSRL also provides voluntary support to help with the unloading of vehicles and picking and packaging of food packages. To continue this momentum, our staff are sparing one day every couple of weeks to volunteer their help in this meaningful initiative.
Currently we are in Week 5 of the project and have already helped with the supply of 92.5 tonnes of ambient food which is roughly 231,250 meals! Partnering with Williams Shipping, as many as 75,000 meals were transported in our best week. All these done while keeping the social distancing and working safely despite the amount of manual handling and forklift work. The only spill being an exploding squeezy bottle of honey & mustard dressing. Thankfully, no need for a massive spill response!