Southampton FC And Saints Foundation Link Up With FareShare To Deliver Food To Community

Southampton Football Club and Saints Foundation have linked up with FareShare Southern Central, the region's biggest charity for fighting hunger and food waste, to cook and deliver a range of 1,000 meals each week for people in need across the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The club has committed a significant amount of financial and human resource to the initiative, providing ingredients, packaging and a team of expert chefs, who will create a range of healthy, nutritious and well-balanced dishes for vulnerable people who are struggling to gain access to food in Southampton and the immediately-surrounding areas.

The meals will be delivered to FareShare Southern Central, which will then redistribute to those most in need across the region via its network of over 200 frontline charities and community groups – including schools and food banks.

Saints Foundation will also provide volunteers to FareShare Southern Central each day, to support across their entire operation.

The project, which forms part of the club’s new Saints As One campaign, will initially cover the next 12 weeks, to align with the suggested period of isolation for the most at-risk members of society.

The first batch of meals was picked up on Friday 3rd Apri and distributed across the following seven days before subsequent pick-ups at the same time each week thereafter.

FareShare Southern Central is part of FareShare UK which takes good-quality surplus food from across the food industry and redistributes to those in need through a network of 11,000 charities and community groups nationwide – including those experiencing homelessness, mental health difficulties, domestic violence, loneliness and poverty.

Greg Baker, Head of Saints Foundation and Community Partnerships, said: “We are incredibly pleased to be working with FareShare to provide additional support to some of the most vulnerable members of our society at this difficult time.