FitzRoy’s war on waste!
Residents at FitzRoy’s Boldshaves Oast and The Croft in Kent have declared a war on waste! They are benefiting from an amazing scheme designed to reduce food waste. The scheme, FareShare, was seen on BBC1’s Hugh’s War on Waste’. Justine May, FitzRoy Deputy Manager told us all about it.
A lady contacted us earlier in the year wanting to introduce us to FareShare. We invited her along to and our journey with FareShare began almost immediately. FareShare is a charity whose mission is to provide free food to other charities. Signing up was simple. We told them about which foods we use every day, what different occasions that we celebrate, foods that would be nice to try, and any allergies the people we support have.
We were partnered with our local Tesco store and invited to meet the Manager and staff who would be handling our donations. The people we support got a warm welcome and were and treated to tea and cake. The residents always have a weekly meeting to choose their menu, so this was a great experience. It encouraged them to try new foods and become more aware what other choices they could have. It has also became a welcome weekly surprise, because you don’t know what will be in the donation until it arrives!
Once a week we receive a text message from Tesco telling us that a donation is available.
Then we reply to accept it and head down to Tesco at an allotted time slot to collect the donation. The food that we get is good quality, unsold food. It’s usually fruit, veg, and bakery items. We have also now have a cool box so we can take chilled food donations too.
As things went so smoothly for us with FareShare, we decided that we would sign up to their Food Cloud scheme too. For a small fee, food suppliers from all over can donate their surplus food for redistribution to charities. We met with the Warehouse Manager and gave him a shopping list of all the foods we use and again discussed any dietary needs.
Every Tuesday we receive a delivery of up to 30 trays of food. Each costs less than £3 regardless of what’s inside. We have made huge savings on our food. The standard of food donated and delivered is excellent, the choice is fantastic and our residents are experimenting with new recipes and enjoying a wide and varied range of foods.
FitzRoy promotes empowering the people we support. Boldshaves Oast provide a holistic approach, encourage new horizons, and grow organic veg which the residents enjoy daily. We feel that our partnership with FareShare has enhanced the service that we provide and would recommend it to anyone at FitzRoy and beyond!
Helen Scully from FareShare said,
FareShare is delighted to be working in partnership with Tesco to help local community organisations. Care homes such as FitzRoy’s The Croft and Boldshaves Oast, benefit from good food that might otherwise go to waste. FareShare FoodCloud aims to redistribute good food from stores directly to charities, not-for-profits and community groups in the local area.