FareShare North East appealing for volunteer drivers to help tackle hunger
The charity redistributes good-to-eat and in-date items
A surplus food charity in the North East and Teesside are looking for volunteer drivers to help its fight in tackling hunger and reducing food waste.
FareShare North East is making the appeal for people who can spare a couple of hours a week at its Newcastle and Middlesbrough hubs.
Justin Goult is a volunteer driver in Middlesbrough and he said: "For me, it started in COVID in 2020. A friend of mine in Newcastle was a volunteer driver and he mentioned he was doing it. And it was something I've always wanted to do, give back to the community, but I've never really had time because I was working full time.
"A couple of years ago I sort of semi-retired so I had a lot more spare time and I decided that it would be great to just help out with FareShare so I do one day a week. It's just really nice to be able to give something back really. It's lovely.
"I just think it's great. I mean I've got the driving skills which is quite handy to be able to deliver the food and it's such a great thing to do when there is people struggling and people do need help.
"Fairly regularly there's a drop off we do in Middlesbrough. They take a huge amount of food, I think they take about three pallets and the guy there is just always so happy, he's always shaking your hand, he's always saying thank you and it just makes you feel good that you know that you're doing something to help people.
"There's lots of surplus food that needs to be delivered and to get this food out there obviously we need drivers and drivers mates so if you do have some spare time it'd be really great to be able to come and help.
"It's just really nice to be able to give back if you have got that time. A few hours a week, even if you just do one morning, it's about three or four hours and it's just great fun. Everybody in the team are very, very friendly, very welcoming and it's just a really good environment to be in. It makes you feel good, it's lovely.
"We arrive about 8 o'clock in the morning, load up the vans and there's normally four or five runs we do. We unload the van straight into the school or the group or the centre, say hello, sometimes get a cup of tea, sometimes you get a cake, it's quite nice."
The charity redistributes good-to-eat and in-date items to schools, community groups and community cafes that help people who are struggling.
One of those places benefitting are community groceries and Andy Malbon is the manager of the Redcar hub: "Honestly, they've been absolutely amazing over the last few years for us and we just couldn't do it without them really. You can see yourself the variety of stuff they've brought today is pretty typical and it's just great and it's wonderful for the people who use our grocery.
"From FareShare we have a pallet a week and that pallet will probably be gone by Thursday. There's big demand. We're probably seeing about 40 people a day. The feedback's been very, very positive. I mean, you've got to remember we are open to everybody. There's no criteria at all so we're not interested in background or anything like that.
"We're just interested in helping people. I think the reality is that for a lot of people, the cost of living has caught up with and overtaken a lot of people and so the money that got left at the end of the month is less and less. And so an organisation like this can help with that massively."
For more information visit the FareShare North East website.