The Asda Fight Hunger Create Change programme, which looks to tackle poverty and hunger in the UK, has won the Consortium Award at the Business Charity Awards. The award celebrates an outstanding partnership between one or more companies and one or more UK charities.
Our three-year, £20m partnership with anti-poverty charity Trussell Trust and food redistribution charity FareShare was launched last year and aims to help one million people with the support and services they need to help them out of the situation they're in.
One of the judges at the awards, the Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation's chief executive Fozia Irfan, described our initiative as "a good example of structural and systemic thinking, with a holistic approach leveraging a range of resources to change people’s lives at a local level".
After just a year, we’ve already made some real positive steps towards tackling the root causes of poverty. We’ve awarded £3.2million in grants to food banks in the Trussell Trust network, so they can help more people in their communities and provide more support services in addition to the standard food parcel.
We’ve also increased the infrastructure of FareShare, buying new vans, bigger warehouses and refrigerators to get fresh surplus food to those in need. Overall, we’ve been able to increase the amount of food being distributed to those in need by a massive five million meals, through increased capacity, redistributing more surplus food and taking more customer donations.
Kloe Tegg, Asda’s Fight Hunger Create Change Manager, said: "This award helps us recognise how far we’ve come in this journey, but it also drives us on as we challenge ourselves with bigger goals, to provide even more meals, creating even bigger capacity for fresh food to be delivered to food banks and really making a change for better."
Our charity partners were also with us on the night to collect the award.
Emma Revie, CEO of the Trussell Trust, said: "We're delighted to win the Consortium Award at the Business Charity Awards. Through the Fight Hunger Create Change partnership, Asda, FareShare and the Trussell Trust are able to help food banks provide even more support to people in crisis, while at the same time tackling the structural issues that lock people in poverty.
"No one should need a food bank's help in the UK. Working together means we can tackle the root causes of poverty through research and campaigning for long-term change, while also ensuring food banks can offer as much support as possible until we reach a future where that help isn't needed."
Lindsay Boswell, chief executive of FareShare, said: "Winning the Consortium Award at this year's Business Charity Awards is fantastic recognition of the scale and impact of Fight Hunger Create Change.
“At FareShare, we understand the important role nutritious food plays not only in fighting hunger but also in connecting communities – with meals often acting as a gateway for vulnerable people to access other vital services which can ultimately help lift them out of poverty. And now, thanks to the partnership and Asda's support, we are reaching thousands more people in need across the UK.
"Fight Hunger Create Change is one of the biggest partnerships working to tackle UK food insecurity, and brings us closer to our vision of ensuring good food feeds people first."
While the award is a great recognition of the progress that the programme has made, the need to continue this and go further is clear, according to Andy Murray, Chief Customer Officer at Asda.
He said: “We’re really pleased that our partnership has been recognised for the great work that has happened so far, but with two years of the programme still to go, we still have a lot more to do in our local communities.
“We know that our customers really care about the issue of poverty in the UK and want us to use our scale to help tackle it. Our programme is making great strides and we’ll continue to work hard to fight hunger and create the change they want to see.”
Asda Fight Hunger Create Change: Find out more about Asda Fight Hunger Create Change here – and read about some of the initiatives making a difference across the country here.
