We went out and about for the day and met up with Rob at Somewhere House to meet their team and residents, talk all things FareShare and find out what getting our food means to them.

Somewhere House is a member who use the FareShare South West membership, as well as collecting from their local supermarket as part of FareShare Go. They help both those in residential treatment with addiction and many people in the local community with their mental health challenges through doing things like school talks, counselling and fundraising events that encourage the community to come together.

Rob has worked for the organisation for 3 years and is a trustee of the charity too. He loves his job and those he works with.

Food at the organisation

How do you use food from FareShare and what types of food do you receive?

“We make meals for vulnerable adults in a residential rehabilitation unit, and we get anything and everything! The delivery drivers always go above and beyond when they come here. If there is extra food available they always offer this to us.”

How important is the food to your organisation?

“It’s so important, it’s great as it gives our beneficiaries variety on the meals they have. It’s fun not knowing what might come in each week, and they use their imagination as to what they may cook when it arrives. This is an invaluable life skill for our vulnerable adults and helps to teach them menu planning.”

Do you have a recipe or stand out meals that you have made with food from FareShare that you could share with us?

“Many a curry and fantastic chilli have been rustled up. The chicken drumsticks have been a hit with jerk chicken.”

Impact of FareShare

What difference does using food from FareShare make to your organisation? If you save money, how much do you save and how do you re-invest these funds?

“We save £100 per week, which is massive for us. It reduces the costs of food in the rehab and as a result we have been able to employ a vulnerable person who ordinarily would not be employed in the community.”

Do you see any long term changes in your residents through using the service?

“It is just so fun and it is exciting to see what comes in so it makes a good atmosphere in the house. Clients gain invaluable life skills through food planning and help build their confidence and self esteem. We have specific beneficiary cases that demonstrate the impact of regular access to healthy food, and it’s allowed others to express themselves through food, increase weight gain and improve their health issues overall. Most of the clients come to us and are under weight and/or malnourished and with the help of fare share delivery, we receive a balanced supply of food which clients can then turn into variety of meals which helps their recovery.”