Five-figure donation allows FareShare East Anglia to continue its vital work in the community

Posted by rob smyth | Published: 17/04/2020

Central England Co-op has made a five-figure donation to FareShare East Anglia to ensure its vital work can continue during these uncertain times.

The retailer, which has dozens of stores across the East of England, decided to support the good cause to allow it to pay for vital extra transport and staffing costs to make sure that more emergency food packages continue to be delivered.

FareShare East Anglia is based out of Ipswich and works with 71 local charities to stop good food from going to waste and redistributing it to charities and community groups across the East of England.

Central England Co-op Chief Executive Debbie Robinson said: “As a co-operative retailer, we want to make sure we are leading the way for our communities during this difficult time.
“This is why we have arranged a donation to FareShare East Anglia to pay for extra deliveries of vital food packages across the region.”

This comes after the retailer previously made a similar five-figure donation to FareShare Midlands to again cover transport and staffing costs for the vital organisation.

The retailer already works with FareShare Midlands on a ground-breaking food redistribution project that sees all best before food items and non-food goods that cannot be sold taken to the Society’s Food Distribution Centre, in Leicester, where it is then delivered to FareShare who send them to support dozens of local charities.

Notes to editors

About Central England Co-operative

Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK with interests in food, funeral, floral, travel and property investment.

Co-operatives have always been there for their communities; they were formed to protect them and help them flourish. 

Our 7,900 colleagues who serve Members and customers work hard to ensure that co-operative values, principles and spirit flow through everything we do to help support and improve our local communities.

Owned by hundreds of thousands of Members, we have over 430 trading outlets across 16 counties including West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. 

We are proud of our reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.

We invest a percentage of our trading profit into local communities through our Community Dividend Fund scheme, have donated over £1.3 million to our corporate charity partner Dementia UK and also operate a pioneering food redistribution partnership with FareShare Midlands so unsold food goes to those in need.

Visit www.centralengland.coop for more information or follow us on Facebook or Twitter using @mycoopfood

Press office contacts: Rob Smyth and James Brindle

Phone - 01543 421390

Email - publicrelations@centralengland.coop