Feed People, Not Landfill!

Aim

We need to continue to support local deprived communities & people less fortunate during these extreme challenging times - #StrongerTogether

Who are we, and what is our project about?

Food AWARE CIC (established in 2008) is a ‘not for profit’ social enterprise which redistributes surplus/donated food and other items e.g. personal hygiene, cleaning materials, clothing, PPE, toys etc to local community groups/organisations across South Yorkshire (predominately supporting Rotherham and Doncaster areas). Our Hellaby site operations have increased by 1,000% since the Covid pandemic in March 2020!!

Our operational activities have increased even further as we support local communities through the current Cost of Living Crisis which is affecting more and more families already suffering multiple levels of deprivation.

We are currently supporting 130+ community organisations across Yorkshire & Humberside , supporting over 4,000 people each week e.g. Mexborough, Denaby & Conisbrough Foodbank, Thorne & Moorends Community Foodbank, Maltby Foodbank, FA Rotherham Community Kitchen, Sunnyside Supplies, Maltby Town Council, Crossroads Care, Royston Community Pantry, The Sick Children’s Trust, Maltby Army Cadets, DN7 Foodbank, Selby Community Fridge, Help the Homelezz, Helping Hands Community Centre (Edlington), Rossington Food Train etc.

Each and every week we provide FREE & subsidised essential supplies to local community organisations/groups to help them support their respective communities/service-users especially during the Covid pandemic period. The majority of the community organisations we support collect the supplies from our Hellaby site each week.

Our warehouse is used to arrange delivery and appropriate storage of bulk pallets of surplus and donated food & supplies which are sorted each week by our growing army of volunteers ready for redistribution across local communities. 

We are helping to feed over 4,000 people each week with surplus essential supplies utilising food predominantly diverted from potential landfill (avoiding harmful and polluting gases caused by food waste).

We also encourage the people we support to engage with our community partners such as Citizens Advice, City of Doncaster Council, South Yorkshire Credit Union, St Leger Homes, local schools, GP surgeries, Adult Social Care etc to access all of the multiagency support available to them in order to help their financial wellbeing and security.

Our project fits in with 'Financial Wellbeing' funding criteria as we provide substantial free and heavily subsidised surplus supplies and household essentials to a significant number of local community projects who operate foodbanks, social supermarkets, community pantries etc in areas of high deprivation.

By providing lots of free supplies and only charging a small contribution to our operating costs, we are enabling our community pantries to provide emergency food parcels/provision in some instances and/or enabling them to keep contributions from individual clients/families to a minimum e.g. £4-5 per individual weekly contribution at Royston Community Pantry in Barnsley in exchange for £15-20+ worth of household goods provided. This enables individuals/families to maximise their stretched household budgets and promote/support Financial Wellbeing.

Why are we crowdfunding?

We receive circa £500,000 worth of surplus food/essential supplies each year from regular suppliers/donors e.g. Lidl GB, Poundland, Ella's Kitchen, ABP Foods, Jackson's of Yorkshire, The Real Yorkshire Pudding Co., KP Nuts, New York Bagel, Co., Greencore, Jollyes - The Pet People, Who Gives a Crap!, Amazon etc.

We also receive free/subsidised transport costs, some free warehouse storage and labour support from our growing team of volunteers.

Our aim is to try not to pass on any costs to community groups managed predominantly by volunteers who run local foodbanks, community pantries etc & by donating FREE surplus supplies (or a small contribution from some community projects who generate income), it significantly contributes to their sustainability and keeps costs low and affordable for end users.

By covering above essential operational costs, will enable us to continue to give out numerous tonnes (averaging 10-15 pallets each week) for FREE to local community groups/organisations supporting local communities.

The funding will help us to cover some of our warehouse operational costs, public liability insurance, transport costs, volunteer expenses, vehicle insurances/MOT/servicing/vehicle tax etc and also fuel costs to help to keep up with receiving substantial trucks/pallets of essential supplies to enable us to continue supporting numerous deprived communities across Yorkshire & Humberside.

How we’ll spend the money raised

Operational Costs

Public Liability Insurance - £1,000 per annum

Waste Management / Pest Control / PAT Testing / Fire Extinguisher Annual Testing / Volunteer Training /Wi-fi & Telephony - £5,000 per annum

Transport Costs (to collect surplus pallets and deliver to our Hellaby warehouse  - £4,000 (Average £250 cost per truckload collection)

Fuel Costs (to cover collection from local supermarkets £150pw x 40 weeks) - £6,000

 Volunteer Expenses (contribution to our regular travel & sustenance costs for each of our volunteers at £5 per day x 2 days per week (Tue & Wed) x 40 weeks - £4,000

 TOTAL - £20,000

How you can help

There are three simple ways to get involved and support our project:

1. Make a donation

Every pledge gets us closer to our goal. Early support can help build momentum and inspire others to give too.

2. Spread the word

Share our project with friends, family and your wider network. The more people we reach, the more likely we are to succeed.

3. Volunteer with us (optional – remove if not relevant)

If you’d like to get involved, we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch through the ‘Contact’ section using the subject "I want to volunteer my time or expertise" on our project page.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 24th July 2026 at 11:51am