The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust has pledged a further £3.5m to support food bank charities help communities amid the cost-of-living crisis.
The money is being made available through grants from the Trust’s newly created Food Bank Fund and is part of a £10m commitment to support food banks.
This Fund open to all food banks in the UK to assist people and meet running costs. The deadline for applications is December 6.
Funding is available before this date, with grants starting from £500. It is hoped the funding will be distributed to successful applicants before Christmas.
The funding pledge follows a donation of £3.5m last month to the Trussell Trust’s emergency food bank appeal.
It has been created as seven in ten food banks warn they may need to reduce the size of emergency rations this winter or turn people away, according to the Trust, which was founded by Swedish billionaire Hans Rausing and his wife Julia.
🚨We have launched the Foodbank Fund in response to the #CostOfLivingCrisis. This £3.5m fund is open to all #Foodbanks across the #UK with available grants starting at £500. Deadline: 6 December. For more info and to apply: https://t.co/6Ewgt4YdNc @JHRTrust #FoodbankFund 🚨
— Julia & Hans Rausing Trust (@JHRTrust) November 16, 2022
In addition, the Trust are donating £1.7m to food distribution charity FareShare for new food processing and freezers equipment to reduce waste.
“The cost-of-living crisis has seen demand for our food skyrocket, at a time when millions of people are being forced into food poverty,” said FareShare chief executive Lindsay Boswell.
“For many, the soaring cost of living is a bigger financial crisis than the pandemic.
“We’re incredibly grateful for the generosity of Julia and Hans Rausing, whose donation will make a huge impact on getting more good-to-eat surplus food to people who need it, rather than letting in go to waste.”
The Trust is also handing FoodCycle £325,000 to keep open its ‘meet, east and have conversations’ programme across London, the Southeast and West Midlands areas.
Meanwhile Feeding Britain is being handed £200,000 to support 20 of its food clubs and pantries UK wide and £775,000 is being given to food charities in areas where the Trust has local connections in London, Gloucestershire and East Cheshire.
“Food banks are facing an unprecedented crisis with demand reaching record levels,” said Julia and Hans Rausing.
“For the first time, they are giving away more food than they are receiving through donations which shows the gravity of the situation. Furthermore, in many cases, they are seeing significant increases in running costs compared to last year.
“For this reason, we are donating a total of £10 million of which £3.5 million is via an emergency open application fund to help as many food banks as possible support their local communities.”
Recent Stories