EV Cargo’s Palletforce has pledged long-term support to two of the nation’s leading charities battling hunger after supporting their efforts over the last few months. The international express distribution network has committed supply chain expertise and financial support to both FareShare and the Trussell Trust after being inspired by their work and efforts to redistribute food during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the last few months, Palletforce and its members have played a key role in the UK-wide distribution of food and grocery items donated to foodbanks as part of a mammoth collaboration with Sainsbury’s, British Gas, FareShare and the Trussell Trust.
The unprecedented partnership is supporting families and communities by redistributing nutritious and in-date food to charities, school breakfast clubs and homeless shelters across the UK.
However, the logistics of nationwide food distribution is a long-term challenge for the charities, so Palletforce, and its national member network, has committed to ensuring food packages make their way to families and communities that need help most.
Palletforce delivers to every UK postcode every day, with freight sorted overnight at its state-of-the-art central SuperHub in Burton upon Trent and it is prepared to play a key role in getting food donations to regional centres.
FareShare is the UK’s national network of charitable food redistributors, made up of 18 independent organisations. The network takes good quality surplus food from right across the food industry and distributes to almost 11,000 frontline charities and community groups. Since the outbreak of Covid-19 in the UK, demand has soared and at the peak of the crisis the charity tripled the amount of food distributed each week – from 1 million meals in February meals to over 3 million in June.
The Trussell Trust supports a nationwide network of food banks, providing emergency food and support to people locked in poverty and campaigning for change to end the need for food banks in the UK. Since the start of the pandemic, there’s been a huge rise in people needing to use food banks for the first time, and it’s forecast that this winter, six food bank parcels will be given out every minute.
Michael Conroy, Palletforce chief executive, said: “Playing a key role in the huge effort to distribute food over the last few months, we have experienced first-hand the incredible support that FareShare and the Trussell Trust provides. I have been inspired by their great work and the huge difference it makes to so many individuals, families and communities.
“No family or individual in the UK today should be going hungry or not have food and that’s why we have decided to continue to help long-term. Palletforce is committed to supporting the communities in which it operates and will provide long-term logistical and financial support to these charities. We must work together to eradicate the need for foodbanks and we are committed to playing our part in achieving this goal.”
Lindsay Boswell, FareShare chief executive, said: “The Covid-19 crisis brought a challenge like nothing FareShare had ever seen before in more than 25 years of operating. As the nation went into lockdown demand for our service skyrocketed and it is thanks to the incredible support of partners like Palletforce that we were able to triple the amount of food distributed to people facing hardship across the UK – delivering enough food to create more than 3 million meals a week.
“We’re grateful to Palletforce for their continued support during such a critical time, which will prove vital in helping us continue to get good food where it’s needed most in the difficult months to come.”
Emma Revie, Trussell Trust chief executive, said: “Since the start of the pandemic we’ve seen a huge surge in people needing food banks – it was vital having the support in Palletforce, in partnership with four other organisations, as the nation pulled together in the fight against coronavirus. By moving food around the country, Palletforce helped food banks to continue to provide an essential community service, and we’re very grateful for their continued support as we look ahead to winter. Ultimately though, no one should need to use a food bank. We want to ensure that this community spirit, of supporting one another during difficult times, continues long after this pandemic, so we can create a society where everyone can buy their own food.”
