We’ve all heard about the increase in food bank usage and the rising reliance on food donations across the UK. In fact, since I launched Emily Crisps three years ago, 270,000 more three-day emergency food parcels are being distributed in the UK every year.
Just as concerning is the looming crisis in child nutrition. Last year over 436,000 emergency food supplies were provided to children by The Trussell Trust. Today more families than ever are reliant upon the work of food banks and trusts.
I was shocked and upset to see a recent report by Child Poverty Action Group, featured on BBC News, about child poverty and increasingly poor nutrition amongst the nation’s children.
The article, headed ‘Pale and hungry pupils fill pockets with school food’, featured the report, which noted that more than four-fifths of respondents saw signs of children being hungry throughout the school day.
This is particularly shocking considering the UK has the luxury of being one of the biggest economies in the world and right on our doorstep children are resorting to stealing food.
I believe the best way possible to drive change is to first understand the problems and listen to those affected. That’s why my team and I have been spending time at a number of volunteering projects in East London to see this growing crisis first hand.
We’re only a small business but feel obliged to act and do what we can to help the situation, so through April and May as part of a 1-for-1 campaign, we will be donating one packet of our fruit or vegetable crisps to FareShare projects across the UK for every pack purchased.
FareShare currently supports more than 480,000 individuals every week and last year supported with food for more than 28.6 million meals.
We’re hoping to give as much as possible. While this is a small act in the grand scheme of things (but significant for our business), together with FareShare we’re calling on all retailers and brands in the fmcg community - both big and small - to join in the effort and match our donation where possible to help stem the growing food crisis in the UK.
Emily Wong is CEO of Emily Crisps
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