Bedale school partners with Tesco stores to ensure people don’t go without

Bedale pupils in need are receiving free nutritious food thanks to the tireless work of Mowbray School and a little help from Tesco. The school provides free surplus food from stores and makes it available to students in Bedale, ensuring that children don’t go without. Mowbray School receives food as part of the Community Food Connection surplus food scheme, which involves local Tesco stores and food surplus redistribution charity FareShare. The Community Food Connection scheme ensures that surplus food from Tesco is given to charities and community groups, whose volunteer members then distribute it to the public. Across the UK it redistributes 2 million meals each month. Naomi Cronfield, a teacher at Mowbray School, said: “I strongly believe that food waste should be absolutely minimal, especially in our current economic climate, with the cost of living crisis being felt by so many people. Using the Tesco and FareShare donations in our school benefits the whole school community, including pupils and staff. “The food is used in a variety of ways, for example by providing fresh fruit and vegetables which can be used at breakfast club, snack time or in food related curriculum areas. This has a positive effect on our young people, who may not otherwise have access to fresh food.” Claire De Silva, Tesco Head of Community, said: “Working with community groups such as Mowbray School to help them get the food they need is such an important service for us to be able to provide. The dedication they have to their community is amazing, and we are pleased to do what we can to support. “We firmly believe no good food should go to waste, which is why we began our Community Food Connection scheme. It enables us to ensure our surplus food is put to good use in communities.” FareShare is the UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and food waste. Two-thirds of the organisations it provides food to support children and families. Katie Sadler, Head of FareShare Go, said: “The food that Tesco redistributes through FareShare makes a huge difference to people facing food insecurity across the UK. “We work with thousands of charities and community groups providing essential support to their communities, and receiving a steady stream of food helps them to feed the people who need it most.” Charities and community groups that could benefit from the support of the Community Food Connection scheme can find further information at https://fareshare.org.uk/getting-food/