How can we use our business to make positive change?
That’s the question we have been asking ourselves, and is why as of 2023, NuServe has gifted in kind £8458 of our commercial cleaning services to FareShare food bank’s Birmingham depot.
As a B Corp accredited cleaning company, positively impacting our local communities is an integral part of how we do business, being a pillar of the B Corp ethos.
Fareshare works with supermarkets across the UK to source excess food, re-distributing this to charities across the nation.
Alongside providing essential support for those facing food insecurity, Fareshare’s work also helps tackle the environmental cost of food waste by salvaging food that would otherwise be sent to landfill.
Food waste is a big problem
It may be surprising to learn the immense carbon footprint of food waste. The UN estimates that if global food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gasses behind just China and the US.
The origin of our gifts in kind initiative
The idea to donate our cleaning services to Fareshare’s Birmingham depot began when our Sales Director Richard Lockwood in late 2020, was inspired to offer support to Fareshare after hearing about the demand for food banks spurred by the pandemic.
“I was reading in the media that there was an increase of people using food banks during the lockdown more so than in previous years,”
The pandemic fuelled need for both food banks’ and cleaning companies’ services. The cleaning industry stepped up to provide vital cleaning and disinfection for public and private spaces alike, ensuring that keyworkers like food bank volunteers could continue their important work.
This had compelled Richard, who explained “I was also moved by Marcus Rashford and his campaign on the importance of the food banks for local communities”.
We began donating our cleaning services to Fareshare food bank, entirely free of charge, in February 2021 for a period of 12 months.
We continue to provide Fareshare our cleaning services at a reduced cost, as a non-profit initiative.
Doing our part as a Birmingham cleaning company
Gifts in kind are a valuable way for businesses to support charities using their own expertise, knowledge, and organisational skillsets. In our case, as a Birmingham cleaning company, this is our cleaning services.
“As a small Midlands charity, redistributing surplus food to local community groups, we were are very grateful for this practical support”- Josephine McReynolds, Fareshare Regional Operations Manager.
Our donations have ensured that volunteers working at the depot have a clean environment to work safely in, meaning that the food bank can continue to deliver their vital food bank services across the United Kingdom.
Fareshare helps over a million people each year- last year they:
- Distributed surplus food to 1,108,064 people
- Helped 10,542 charities
- provided approximately 130,000,000 meals
- 88% of redistributed food was made up of good-to-eat excess food
As the cost of living crisis pushes more families towards relying on food banks, we feel it is more important than ever to continue doing our part to help Fareshare get food to those who need it.
What is involved in our donation to Fareshare?
We provide office cleaning to Fareshare’s West Midlands depot.
This includes weekday cleaning and disinfection for the workspaces, breakout rooms, staff kitchen and bathrooms used daily by Fareshare’s volunteers. Our on-site cleaning products are primarily eco-friendly and non-toxic; this is better for people and the planet.
By providing our cleaning services, we aim to ensure that the voluntary workers helping at the depot have a clean and safe environment to work in.
We have a small team of staff and volunteers, and the help of a professional, friendly cleaner has been really valuable”- Josephine McReynolds.
With charities like Fareshare feeling the dual shocks of the cost of living crisis through reduced donations and increased bills, we’re brainstorming how we can extend our support to the Birmingham depot and beyond.
Our growing West Midlands footprint
Our footprint as a Birmingham commercial cleaning company and beyond is established and growing month-by-month under Account Manager Wendy Maguire.
From completing a builder’s clean for the state-of-the-art NAIC at Warwick University, Coventry, we continue to provide our commercial cleaning services to the site.
If you’re searching for an ethical, reliable, and innovative West Midlands cleaning company, get in touch today.