Our lockdown story is one of many incredible tales we can boast of.
See how hundreds of supporters helped us to redistribute nearly 1,000 tonnes of food to those in need during the lockdown.
When the country went into full lockdown earlier this year, the number of individuals and families relying on us for food nearly doubled overnight. It was the biggest challenge we’d ever faced. But thanks to the extraordinary response of hundreds of organisations and volunteers, we got good food out into communities at a scale we didn’t think was possible.
Our new report, COVID-19: Supporting Greater Manchester during lockdown, tells this amazing story. This is our way to celebrate and give thanks to the fantastic efforts of the food companies, logistics providers, frontline charities, staff and volunteers who made it all happen.
Over four months, we provided an unprecedented 971 tonnes of food for around 50,000 people in Greater Manchester and East Cheshire, including 302 tonnes of fruit and vegetables. This was made possible through the hard work of 224 frontline community food organisations and the support of more than 600 individuals and organisations who provided food, donated, fundraised or volunteered their free time to us.
Download Our Lockdown Story report
“We’ve never felt more needed or supported than we did during lockdown. This report is an attempt to share the scale of our efforts and recognise everyone who chose to support us, near and far, as well as the wonderful Community Food Members on the frontline who do such important work reaching out to people in their local area. As a society we’re now much more aware about food insecurity than we were before, thanks in part to people like Marcus Rashford who have put the issue in the national spotlight. Our mission now is to keep up this momentum and support as many people as possible in the difficult months and years ahead.”
Miranda Kaunang, Head of Development at FareShare GM
It’s not over yet
The story is far from over. There were already 620,000 people struggling to get by in Greater Manchester before the outbreak of COVID-19, and these numbers will inevitably rise as we enter economic recession. Across the country, 5 million people are experiencing food insecurity, but more than half have not yet tried to get help. We need to help them.
We’re currently raising funds for a new warehouse that will enable us to double our output to 7 million meals a year. Can you help us raise the £500,000 we need?
