On November 14, His Majesty The King officially launched FareShare’s new Merseyside Coronation Food Hub in Knowsley. He joined the ribbon-cutting ceremony via video link from a second Coronation Food Hub opened simultaneously in London, where he was joined by Steve and Sally Morgan.
The new, expanded Knowsley site will enable FareShare’s operations to provide more surplus food that would otherwise go to waste to local communities and people in need across the region, and was made possible thanks to generous donations from the Steve Morgan Foundation and other supporters.
The funding from the Steve Morgan Foundation will cover fifty percent of the running costs of the Merseyside Coronation Food Hub for three years.
Launching the new Merseyside Hub, Kris Gibbon-Walsh, CEO of FareShare said:
“We know that opening a larger site with greater capacity will make a huge difference, and we’re enormously grateful to all our partners, especially the Steve Morgan Foundation, who have helped bring this project to fruition.
This new Coronation Food Hub will be instrumental in getting food that might otherwise have gone to waste to more communities more efficiently. This will be transformative for surplus food in Merseyside and beyond, making a huge difference to our capacity for redistributing food to organisations which are providing essential support services and strengthening their communities.”
Steve Morgan CBE, Chairman of the Steve Morgan Foundation said:
“We are thrilled to see the opening of the new Coronation Food Hub in Merseyside. 12 months ago, we pledged £890,000 to the project to support our region with better surplus food distribution. By working in collaboration with FareShare and other funders, delivery partners and community groups, we hope to not only reduce food waste, but to tackle the root causes of food poverty in our communities for the long-term.”
The Coronation Food Project, inspired by His Majesty The King, was created in 2023 to re-imagine the UK’s food supply chains and help end food insecurity. The launch of the new Hubs in Merseyside and London marks an important milestone along this journey to improving food distribution.
Attending the launch event in Merseyside, Liam Eaglestone, CEO of the Steve Morgan Foundation commented:
“We are here to stand alongside so many of the incredible charities that work with FareShare and further afield. We know first-hand the challenges they face in getting food to people who are hungry. It is good to see organisations and people working together to tackle the duel challenge of food waste and food poverty.”
This new site will allow the FareShare team, which is largely made up of volunteers, to distribute a wider variety of food, including fresh produce, frozen and chilled items, and ambient food, via regular deliveries across the region. Alongside increased capacity, the move will see improved resources, including kitchens on site and greater efficiency in terms of receiving and distributing food, all helping to reach more communities in need.
The Lord Lieutenant of Merseyside, Mark Blundell, cut the ribbon on the new building.
Sam O’Keeffe, from St Matthews Pantry, an organisation which receives food from FareShare Merseyside added:
“St Matthews Pantry has been getting food from FareShare for almost 3 years now and it makes a huge difference. We support 130 families in the local community each week and we are able to provide a variety of food thanks to the support from FareShare. The opening of this new Coronation Food Hub will benefit so many more organisations like ours and help many more communities in Merseyside.”
Liam Eaglestone added:
“With research published this month (November 2024) indicating that one in three children are now living in poverty, it is vital that funders, public bodies and grassroots charities double down on their efforts to collaborate and deliver the changes that we know are so desperately needed in our communities.
Read more here about the Coronation Food Project.
Read more here about FareShare.
