Aylesbury charity serves up Tesco food donations to recovering addicts

The food is made available each week to the Oasis Partnership, a High Wycombe and Aylesbury charity that addresses people’s substance misuse.

The charity also provides high-quality social and psychological support services to improve people’s health and wellbeing.

The Oasis Partnership receives the food because it is part of Tesco’s Community Food Connection scheme, in partnership with food charity FareShare.

Jax Weir, Project Manager at the charity, said:

“The donations from Tesco allow our service-users to have food items that they would never normally be able to afford. They really look forward to the weekly food donations.

“We have 40 volunteers in total and 30 members of staff, and they do amazing work with people who have drug and alcohol addictions. The meals from the food donations are a big part of that work.

“We have a very good relationship with Tesco, and the FareShare scheme works brilliantly in Wycombe. They always support our charity.”

The Oasis Partnership has been operating for more than 35 years, having begun as a small counselling team.

David Page, Tesco’s Head of Community, said:

“We are proud to work with the Oasis Partnership, whose dedication to the community is amazing. They have already helped so many people, and we are so pleased to be working with them to assist even more people in need.”

Since launching in February 2016, Tesco’s Community Food Connection has donated surplus food to more than 7,000 local charities and community groups.

The scheme pairs Tesco stores with local charities and community groups by alerting them to available unsold surplus food items via a mobile app. This food can then be collected by charities and supplied to people in need, ensuring that no good food goes to waste.

Lindsay Boswell, FareShare Chief Executive, said:

“The food that Tesco donates makes a really makes a big difference to local charities and communities across the UK. We are pleased to have been able to work with Tesco over the past four years to create this pioneering scheme, which is the biggest of its kind in the UK.”

Tesco is keen to hear from any charities that could benefit from this programme. Interested groups can get in touch with their local store or visit www.fareshare.org.uk/fareshare-foodcloud to register.