FareShare and Sainsbury's link up for another Million Meal Appeal

By Jenna Pudelek

The food redistribution charity and the supermarket chain will repeat the scheme, which won Best Single Project at the 2012 Business Charity Awards
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The food redistribution charity FareShare has joined forces with Sainsbury's for the second year running to launch the Million Meal Appeal 2012.

On 6 October, volunteers at 600 of the supermarket chain's stores will greet customers and ask them to buy an extra item of food from the appeal's shopping list.

FareShare will then deliver the donated items to the 700 charities and community projects it works with.

Last year, the partnership allowed the charity to deliver food for more than 1.2 million meals. The initiative won the Single Project category at Third Sector's Business Charity Award in May.

Lindsay Boswell, chief executive of FareShare, said: "This year we are hoping to deliver even more food. But we can't do it without the crucial help of volunteers."

The charity is looking to recruit 1,200 volunteers to help with the appeal.

Andy White, community affairs manager at Sainsbury's, said: "We hope from this year's campaign that we can further raise awareness of food poverty in the UK and support those charities and projects that need our help."

It is estimated that around 5.8 million people in the UK live in deep poverty and struggle to afford basic items such as food. Last year, FareShare says it rescued 3,600 tonnes of food, which contributed to 8.6 million meals feeding 36,500 people a day.