Service, Community and Fair Shares in Easington

A group of volunteers at All Saints’ Church, Easington in the East Riding has opened an exciting new enterprise in conjunction with the FareShare charity.

Each Friday the volunteers (pictured on launch day, 21st February) will take delivery of a consignment of good food that would otherwise have gone to waste, and will make it available at the church café on the same afternoon. Villagers who come will be able to obtain a variety of food items for a small donation towards paying for the next delivery.

FareShare is a national charity redistributing food that is in date and good to eat but is surplus to the food industry. In 2019 FareShare distributed some 20,838 tonnes of food to food banks, soup kitchens and charities.

All Saints’ Church, currently without a Vicar, already has a café area with toilet facilities and a charity clothes shop.

“They will open the shop up at about 1.30pm on Fridays,” said Area Dean of South Holderness the Revd Susan Walker.

“Tea and coffee will be served in their café area, and they also have clothes rails so that people can find ‘new to you’ clothes.”

Headed by Churchwarden Lois Rutter, who organised the agreement with FareShare in Hull, volunteers have organised shelving and a fridge and freezer to accommodate the food shop.

The Friday afternoon café and food shop will provide a lifeline for those struggling to get to the shops as well as those who may be lonely; there is no village shop in Easington and the nearest supermarket is nine miles away which makes it difficult to access the regular weekly shop for families and the elderly, amongst others.

fareshare.org.uk