Member Article

Breakfast for Everyone Courtesy of FareShare

FareShare North East and York, part of the charity Changing Lives, recently donated a large collection of food to support a breakfast club at The Dales School in Blyth. The food donation will enable the school children to start the morning with a nutritional breakfast, preparing them for the busy day ahead.

The Dales School was chosen by Cramlington based pharmaceutical manufacturer, MSD, as it is one of their partner schools where an after school science club is organised and delivered by MSD staff and the school is supported throughout the year on various projects by MSD.

National charity Changing Lives runs the FareShare North East and York franchise. Changing Lives provides specialist support for thousands of vulnerable people and their families, every month. FareShare supplies surplus food to hundreds of local charities across the UK. They ensure that good food is not wasted by turning an environmental problem into a solution, helping to feed thousands of vulnerable people every day. In the North East, FareShare received 223 tonnes of food in the last year from the food industry, 85% of which was surplus.

Barry Densham, Changing Lives, Project Manager for FareShare North East, highlights the importance of supporting people in the local community.

He said:

“FareShare North East has a significant impact with all communities throughout the region who we support with surplus food, not only from an ecological impact by saving perfectly good food that would otherwise go to landfill, but to ensure that those people in food poverty access food through various local organisations. In the North East alone there are over 100,000 children in food poverty so by supporting schools with surplus food we can help provide at least one meal a day for a child. Hopefully this will help to raise concentration levels in school, meaning a greater chance of improved educational results leading to better careers in the future.”

MSD recently provided FareShare North East and York with a grant of $50,000 USD from the Merck Community Foundation which enabled FareShare to increase the number and type of deliveries to charitable organisations throughout the region. As a thank you to MSD, FareShare offered to donate a FareShare food hamper to a Local Community Project of MSD’s choice, the project of choice being The Dales School. The Dales is a school for primary age children who have Special Educational Needs. Hugh Steele, Headteacher, The Dales School, talks about the benefits of breakfast for the school children.

He said:

“Breakfast at The Dales School is a really important part of the day. Apart from the obvious benefits of starting the day with a full stomach, ready to face the challenges ahead, it gives our children the chance to socialise with their friends and adults. Children who attend The Dales come from a range of backgrounds. However, they all have Special Educational Needs and, as such, benefit from the opportunity to learn in a secure and therapeutic environment where they can be given time to focus on other important life skills as well as the academic development which must take place.

Mr Steele continued:

“Additional provision and opportunity such as breakfast and behaviour at meal times is additional to The National Curriculum and, consequently, expensive. When organisations such as FareShare and MSD recognise this and offer support, it is extremely welcome and we would like to thank them for their extremely kind donations which allow us to provide benefits that otherwise we could not provide.”

For more information about FareShare and Changing Lives, please visit: www.fareshare.org.uk and www.changing-lives.org.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Changing Lives .