Surplus food will not go to waste in Larne under new charity initiative

An initiative to reduce surplus food in Asda stores is helping Larne foodbanks, community groups and charities support more vulnerable people.
By The Newsroom
Published 26th Oct 2018, 18:03 BST
Updated 26th Oct 2018, 19:05 BST
L to R: Michelle McIlwrath, Womens Aid ABCL&N, Stuart Legge, Asda Larne general store manager and Fiona Stanton, Action for Children.L to R: Michelle McIlwrath, Womens Aid ABCL&N, Stuart Legge, Asda Larne general store manager and Fiona Stanton, Action for Children.
L to R: Michelle McIlwrath, Womens Aid ABCL&N, Stuart Legge, Asda Larne general store manager and Fiona Stanton, Action for Children.

Donations of food comes from unsold surplus within stores and is provided to charities through the FareShare Go service.

It is expected the retailer’s Larne outlet will donate the equivalent of around 20,000 meals to charities in the area over the next year. Beneficiaries include Action for Children Larne, Women’s Aid ABCL&N – Larne, Larne Baptist Church and Simon Community Larne.

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Michelle McIlwrath, from Women’s Aid ABCL&N in Larne, said: “ The food has been put to good use in our local Reconnect group for women, Voices Group for secondary school children and homework club for primary school children.

“A huge thanks to Asda Larne and FareShare for their very generous food donations which provide refreshments for groups in our Larne centre for women, children and young people.”

Stuart Legge, general store manager at Asda Larne, said: “We already have food collection points permanently in store, which colleagues and customers generously contribute to, but we know people in our local community continue to go hungry and we wanted to do more. So, we have now put the infrastructure in place for stores to donate surplus fresh food, which would previously have gone to waste.”

The initiative is part of Asda’s three-year ‘Fight Hunger Create Change’ programme, working in partnership with foodbank charity The Trussell Trust and food redistribution charity FareShare, to invest at least £20 million and lift one million people in the UK out of food poverty. Charities can register online at fareshare.org.uk/getting-food/fareshare-go-support

Related topics:ASDAFareShare