# Asda funding provides almost £2 million for foodbanks

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2019/02/27/asda-funding-almost-2m-foodbanks/
- Published: 2019-02-27T09:30:07+00:00
- Author: Melanie May

**More than 90 food banks across the UK have been awarded a share of almost £2mn
of funding through the Asda Fight Hunger Create Change campaign.**

The funding comes 12 months after the launch of [the three-year campaign](https://www.asda.com/fight-hunger/),
which is a £20m partnership between the retailer, the [Trussell Trust](https://www.trusselltrust.org/)
and [FareShare](https://fareshare.org.uk/).

Over the first year, the partnership has funded the first phase of in-depth research
into food bank use, and supported the development of the Trussell Trust’s advocacy
work for long-term solutions to the drivers of food bank use.

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It has also provided 5 million additional meals for people in need through:

 * 3 new FareShare warehouses, enabling the distribution of an additional 1.8 million
   meals a year
 * More than 2.2 million meals to community groups, including children’s breakfast
   clubs, women’s refuges and elderly lunch clubs
 * 150,000 meals donated to FareShare’s network of local charities from unsold surplus
   food
 * More than 1 million meals donated to food banks through customer donations from
   Asda stores

Through the partnership, a pilot linking FareShare and the Trussell Trust to deliver
fresh surplus food to food banks has also been developed. More than a thousand people
have already benefited from a greater variety of fresh fruit and vegetables in addition
to the standard three-day emergency parcel.
The new funding for food banks is part
of the £20m partnership. Over the three years, the partnership will help provide
more support to people referred to food banks, fund a three-year research project
into the drivers of food bank use, provide an additional 24 million meals every 
year as well as one million fresh food parcels to people across the UK.

Andy Murray, Chief Customer Officer at Asda said:

> _“I’m incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made to change the face of food poverty
> in the UK. As we move into the second year of our campaign, we’ll continue to 
> provide not just meals for people but support to help them out of poverty, and
> we thank our customers and colleagues for their ongoing support in our challenge
> to fight hunger.”_

The Trussell Trust’s chief executive Emma Revie said:

> “While we work in the long-term to tackle the structural issues that lock people
> in poverty, food banks will be able to provide even more vital support to people
> referred. We’ve never been in a position to support our network to deliver help
> to this extent before – the nature of investment is unprecedented. These grants
> will provide crucial additional resources to food banks, increasing the diversity
> and breadth of the services they can offer people in crisis and tackle the root
> causes of poverty.” 

Lindsay Boswell, CEO of FareShare, said:

> _“The Fight Hunger Create Change programme is already enabling unprecedented transformation
> for the UK’s charities and community groups. Thanks to Asda’s funding FareShare
> has been able to open new warehouses, lease more vans and – most importantly –
> service more charities with more vital nutritious meals, ensuring surplus food
> is diverted to those who need it most. It has also enabled FareShare to work in
> close partnership with the Trussell Trust to make a real lasting impact in fighting
> hunger, as we roll out redistribution of fresh surplus fruit and veg to its network
> of food banks.”_
>  * [Asda Foundation offers grants to feed communities](https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/11/19/asda-foundation-offers-grants-to-feed-communities/)(
>    19 November 2020)