FoodCloud, the social enterprise that redistributes surplus food to communities in need, is launching an emergency food and funding appeal to aid their charity partners in distributing food parcels. The demand for FoodCloud’s services has increased in recent weeks with the spread of Covid-19. Pressure has been put on FoodCloud’s resources as 40% of their community partners are closing due to reduced availability of volunteers. The social enterprise has also seen a 50% decrease in surplus food donations from supermarkets as a result of stockpiling. The immediate response to the crisis was thanks to an existing partnership with AIB. As well as AIB, Aldi, ChangeX supported by Web Summit, and Kelloggs have all pledged their support to the appeal. Many other food partners have committed to additional regular food donations over the coming weeks to support this appeal.
“Our emergency response efforts will be in addition to our day-to-day activities and we are now appealing for food and funding support to meet the growing demand. We are preparing to meet the additional demand for food parcels by establishing new strategic partnerships with community organisations that will support the ever-changing needs of individual communities across Ireland. Through these partnerships, we are accelerating our support of families whose children normally get free school meals, the elderly with underlying health conditions and those who need to self-isolate.”
According to recent ESRI reports, up to 300,000 people could lose their jobs in Ireland in the coming weeks, increasing the number of individuals and families who will need support. In light of this situation, FoodCloud has been working closely with the food industry to secure a consistent supply of ambient food and essential products. FoodCloud is collaborating with their network of community organisations, to create an infrastructure that can deliver the food directly to the households that need it.
FoodCloud foresees an unprecedented shift in the need for food across communities. Therefore, the social enterprise is seeking food donations from the food business industry to make up food parcels that FoodCloud’s charity partners can deliver directly to people in need. FoodCloud is also looking for financial support to manage the increased operational warehouse costs and the logistic costs of the additional services.
FoodCloud oversees the distribution of the equivalent of over 160,000 meals every week through its warehousing and technology solutions. The increasingly complex social distancing guidelines and the cancellation of their corporate volunteer programme has put pressure on their services. To support their 500+ community partners, FoodCloud has taken on four new warehouse operatives.
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