Emily Rises to the Challenge!

FareShare South West volunteer Emily was recently featured on BBC’s Comic Relief as she took part in an extraordinary challenge organised by The One Show called #RedNoseandSpoonRace, helping to raise funds for those in need. Emily was approached by The One Show after sharing TikTok videos of her time volunteering with us.

More About Emily

Emily has been a volunteer at FareShare South West since the start of the pandemic in 2020. She drives our vans to take the food orders and parcels to our Charity Members around Bristol and the surrounds. She has a wonderfully cheerful demeanour and is a real asset to the team.

Emily says “I started volunteering at FareShare South West for a number of reasons. When I was young, me and my mum used foodbanks to get us through difficult times. We were always treated with such kindness and we were given food that was invaluable at the time. I had a chance to see first-hand the good work that organisations, such as FareShare do for vulnerable communities.

At the start of the pandemic, I was struggling with my mental health, I ended up giving up my job due to stress. I didn’t know what to do. I came across FareShare and I realised it was a chance for me to give back some of that kindness I had been shown as a child. Delivering food to charities and communities gives me a real sense of purpose and it’s great to know that we’re not only helping people but we’re also saving food that would otherwise be thrown away. I’m so lucky to have found FareShare and see all the amazing work FareShare does”

Emily’s Comic Relief Challenge

She joined the “yellow team” headed by Jermaine Jenas and with a fellow teammate Claire and took up the challenge of walking the equivalent of 3 marathons over 3 days in the Chilterns…and all while balancing a large sponge Red Nose on a spoon!!

The teams had to forego luxuries and embrace the great outdoors, as after each demanding day they had to pitch their tents and sleep out under the stars, before picking their spoons back up the next morning. Unfortunately, Emily suffered a hip injury which meant she couldn’t complete the whole challenge herself – but her efforts still lead her team onto win and we are all immensely proud of her! We wish her a speedy recovery and we can’t wait to see her smiley face back in the warehouse packing up those vans, ready for delivery.

Donations are still open so for more information on the challenge and how to donate follow this link: The One Show Challenge | Comic Relief

FareShare is the only charity to take food from the wholesale level of the food industry

The vast majority of surplus occurs before food even gets to the supermarket. Each member of the FareShare network rescues that food and delivers it to those in need. FareShare Go is our supermarket collection service, which deals with supermarket-level surplus.

Find out more about what we do