Team from NFU Mutual Scotland volunteers for FareShare

Members of NFU Mutual’s Scotland team dedicated three days to volunteering with FareShare in Glasgow, helping to organise, pack and distribute food to get it to those who need it most.  

Across the three days, 14 NFU Mutual staff members – split into three groups – spent time loading food onto FareShare vans, delivering food to Fareshare’s partner charities across Glasgow and the West of Scotland, sorting through food deliveries and compiling food orders for delivery the next day. The essential donation packs included fresh meat and dairy, cereal, bread and instant coffee.  

The team’s volunteer days came about as part of NFU Mutual’s employee volunteering programme. The insurer has also donated £150,000 to FareShare since 2021 to support the charity’s contribution to communities across the UK throughout the pandemic.   

With its nationwide network of farming, wholesale, retail and hospitality customers, NFU Mutual is also urging businesses from across the food supply chain to donate good-to-eat waste to the food redistribution charity. Through its Surplus with Purpose fund, FareShare offers eligible businesses a contribution towards harvesting and transport to help them cover the cost of donating. ^*  

Mark McBrearty, Scotland Regional Manager and one of the volunteers, said: “It’s great to be able to continue NFU Mutual’s UK-wide support for FareShare on our local patch. The charity makes a huge difference in our community. As living costs rise and households across the nation face tough financial choices, the availability of food support is likely to become increasingly important. The team was proud to contribute to the valuable service FareShare provides.” 

John Connell, Volunteering Manager from FareShare Glasgow, said: “The support we receive from corporate volunteering is essential to the work that we do at FareShare in our fight to tackle food poverty and insecurity. Over the 3 days of volunteering that NFU Mutual participated in, they helped our volunteers deliver 5880 meals to over 60 charities in some of the most deprived communities in West of Scotland. This input cannot be praised enough, and everyone involved should take pride in the realisation that the support they offered helped make the live of individuals and groups just that little bit better.”