The Asda Fight Hunger Create Change initiative is paying for food charity FareShare to expand their warehouse in Bristol and recruit a driver to deliver much-needed supplies to charities in the South West of England.
One of the groups FareShare supply to in the city is One25 – here's FareShare warehouse assistant Nev McDermott on one of his weekly deliveries to Polly Bramley.
One25 is a charity offering hot meals, clothing and support to vulnerable women on the streets of the city – and they say the link has been an "immense" help.
Amy Sutcliffe, One25's fundraising and communications manager, said: "FareShare are amazing, the value of having them on board is immense. They've taken the time to get to know our organisation and the needs of the women we work with, and as a result of that they know the items we would like to offer these women.
"Each week, FareShare put together what they can from their available stock and we pick it up from their warehouse. We estimate that up to half the food we offer is through FareShare, and that food is being offered at a far lower cost than if we had to buy it directly from supermarkets.
"Often we are able to collect high end fresh fruit and meat products, which as a charity we just wouldn't be able to afford. This is huge for us.
"We offer a home-cooked meal at our drop-in centre, and we also give out food via an outreach van which goes on to the streets at night. For some of these women, this will be the only food they get.
"Our aim is to reach out to women who are involved in street sex work in Bristol, or are vulnerable to becoming involved, helping them to break free from that lifestyle and build new lives away from poverty, violence and addiction.
"They face many challenges such as drug and alcohol addiction – 80% of them are homeless, 92% of them are malnourished and many have poor health."
Julian Mines, CEO of FareShare South West, said: "Charities such as One25 provide an absolutely crucial service for vulnerable women in Bristol and the wider region, and FareShare is proud to serve them.
"At FareShare we know food can serve as a gateway to other vital services and this is certainly true with One25, which works endlessly to help women break free from a life of sex work – with food playing an important role in this process.
"Thanks to Asda’s funding, next year will see us renovate our warehouse to create extra capacity – which means we’ll be able to accept more food and subsequently support even more charities like One25 across Bristol and the wider region."
Asda Fight Hunger Create Change: This Christmas, we're saying a big festive thank you to everyone helping to deliver our Asda Fight Hunger Create Change initiative. Read more stories here and find out more about our partnership with FareShare and The Trussell Trust here.
