Charity FareShare NI to tackle food waste with donation point at Supervalu Portstewart

Connor Martin from Fareshare collects food product donations from Musgrave NI’s Director of Marketing, Desi Derby. Credit MCE Comms

Musgrave NI has launched a partnership with FareShare Northern Ireland, the region’s biggest charity fighting hunger and tackling food waste, by introducing food donation points into selected stores.

SuperValu and Centra customers have already been supporting a trial in selected stores, including Supervalu Portstewart, and have so far donated over 800kg of food, helping 40 charities provide the equivalent of 1,623 meals, while Musgrave donated a further 1,495 kg of food equating to an additional 3,475 meals.

The partnership is now being extended to more stores across Northern Ireland.

Desi Derby, Director of Marketing for SuperValu and Centra at Musgrave NI said: “We are acutely aware of the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on people and families across Northern Ireland so to be able to work with FareShare and provide these collection points for food donation is something which we’re very proud of. We would like to thank our shoppers for their support and encourage customers to pick up an extra item when they’re shopping and donate it to this very worthwhile cause.”

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FareShare is the UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and tackling food waste. FareShare works with the food industry to get good-to-eat food surplus food, which might otherwise go to waste, and redistribute it to a nationwide network of frontline charities and community groups. These charities help tackle the root causes of poverty, and provide wraparound services including shelters for the homeless, lunch clubs for elderly people suffering with isolation, and support with issues including debt, employment and mental health.

In Northern Ireland, FareShare is operated by Homeless Connect (the working name of Council for the Homeless (Northern Ireland). It is the largest charitable food redistribution project in NI fighting hunger and tackling food waste. In 2022, FareShare Northern Ireland distributed the equivalent of 1,616,295 meals.

Polly Hofmann, Head of Retail at FareShare added: “We are enormously grateful to Musgrave Northern Ireland for their support with this partnership. After a successful trial in selected stores, we look forward to extending the project to many more locations in the coming months. Demand for food from FareShare has skyrocketed due to the cost-of-living crisis and generous donations by customers of SuperValu and Centra will ensure the charities we support in Northern Ireland can continue to provide essential services, using food to strengthen communities.”