FareShare facts & history

A brief history

1994 - Three in five homeless people have no daily intake of fresh fruit and vegetables - Crisis, t6he national homeless charity, developed FareShare in response to this and launched the first pilot scheme in London. This innovative project consisted of delivering surplus fresh food from retailers to centres for homeless people. Local community and homelessness centres are able to use their resources on additional and complementary services, and the retailers reduce their landfill tax bills.

1996 - Still Dying for Home is published by Crisis showing that life expectancy of rough sleepers is 42.

1997 - Waste not Want not is published by Crisis FareShare revealing that £386m worth of food is wasted every year from supermarkets and catering outlets in the UK.

1998 - Lord Sainsbury launches Crisis FareShare nationally and appeals to business to help expand the redistribution of fresh food. After the successful pilot in London Crisis FareShare opened seven other projects around the country under a social franchise model.

2001 - The campaign for the Food Poverty (Eradication) Bill is launched in November by the Food Justice campaign. This calls for an end to food poverty through a national strategy that will end food poverty in a specified time in this country. FareShare supports the campaign. Read more about Food Justice Campaign

2003 - In October FareShare becomes an independent organisation, still supported and working closely with Crisis. Now with broader objectives to support more vulnerable people (such as older people and young people) and focus on how we can impact on the environment by diverting food from landfill.