The prolific philanthropists Julia and Hans Rausing have today launched a £10m grants programme to help charities and food banks to tackle the growing food poverty crisis.
Last month, the couple’s charity, The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust, handed £3.5m to the Trussell Trust’s emergency food bank appeal.
Now, as part of today’s £10m announcement, it has launched the £3.5m Food Bank Fund, which is open to applications from all food banks in the UK.
The fund is designed to help food banks meet rising demand and assist with rising running costs.
The couple, whose family made its fortune from Tetra Pak food packaging, said: “Food banks are facing an unprecedented crisis with demand reaching record levels.
“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.”
Food Bank Fund applications open today and will close on 6 December. In recognition of the immediate need, the trust said funding would be made available before the deadline date, with grants starting from £500.
The Fund has been established in recognition of the increasing use of food banks across the UK, with 70 per cent of food banks saying they may need to shrink the size of emergency rations this winter or turn people away.
In addition to the open application and Trussell Trust grants, Julia and Hans Rausing are supporting the following food related charities:
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FareShare: £1.7m to develop new food processing and freezing technologies to enable surplus fresh food to be stored instead of wasted
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FoodCycle: The charity works to alleviate both food poverty and loneliness. Julia and Hans Rausing are donating £325,000 to enable it to keep open its welcoming spaces
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Feeding Britain: £200,000 will go towards providing urgent support to 20 affordable food clubs and pantries.
Julia and Hans Rausing are donating a further £775,000 to food charities in London, Gloucestershire and East Cheshire where they have local connections.
Lindsay Boswell, FareShare chief executive, said: “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.
“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 it go to waste.”
In the past two years The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust have launched two open Funds, the Charity Survival Fund and the Youth Centre Recovery Fund, distributing £26m to more than 500 charities across the UK.