A charity that relies on surplus food from shops across Lincolnshire expect to struggle this winter

A charitable food distributor, says the cost of living and energy crisis might threaten their services. Fareshare rely on surplus food from shops across Lincolnshire, to help struggling communities, and the availability of this food is unsure, as companies look to become more cost-effective as their bills begin to rise.

Fareshare is a service that re-distributes surplus food, to sites which then give it to those most in need. With the winter fast approaching, concern about the amount of excess food is growing as food retailers attempt to be more cost-effective due to their increased expenditure.

Fareshare rely on food supplyers across Lincolnshire and Newark, with a depot in Lincoln, the food is then stored and arranged by it is destributed to other local charities. This years' challenges are believed to be because of the rising cost of bills, and inflation.

Throughout the year 2020/21 Fareshare nationally redistributed 7,185 tonnes of food.

Simone Connolly is the Chief executive of Lincoln and other East Midland Fareshare depots:

"The food industry are getting more efficient with their supply chain, because they have to, because they're also experiencing huge increases in energy. So, it's completely across the board, it's a different crisis to COVID, but a crisis we haven't experienced before. So, we're waiting for it to get really bad, is actually where we're at now."

Simone continued to detail that the future is uncertain for them but that demand is significantly rising for the service. She understands that as a source of essential items, that has been increasing further and further in cost because of food inflation, they are relied upon by other charities.

Last year (2020/21) the food helped over 550 frontline groups provide 16 million meals to those who needed them.

Fighting for a change in the amount of food waste and the amount of people going hungry, Simone says that something needs to start happening:

"It's a massive struggle but at the same time the food industry are also struggling, so even though we know there's a huge amount of surplus food in the supply chain that could come into us, the focus on the food industry, is about making sure they've enough food going through to their stores."

One in five charities say they would have to close if FareShare stopped providing food, according to their findings.

The crisis, particular the cost of energy is expected to continue to rise into the the new year, and for charities, like Fareshare, this has left them feeling hit twice now - after operating with increased pressures throughout the coronavirus pandemic and now during the cost of living crisis.