Photograph supplied by @focuspointphotographyuk
At the Manchester headquarters of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the team from the Hospitality, Tourism and Event Management degree held a campaign launch, wine and canape evening in aid of EMERGE 3Rs, which runs the food redistribution partnership, FareShare Greater Manchester.
Figures from the Trussell Trust show that between the months of April and September 2017 the demand for food banks increased by a staggering 30%.
That is why the work FareShare does is so important; in Greater Manchester alone they redistribute surplus in-date food to over 230 community organisations, schools and agencies who feed those most in need across the city-region.
The room was kindly arranged and donated for the evening by Coutts Bank and helped greatly in making this event a success.
The canapés served were handmade by the student team from some of the food donated to FareShare to highlight the variety of meals which can be created from food which might otherwise be considered ‘waste’. In 2016 FareShare GM redistributed 2 million meal portions to those who would normally struggle to put food on the table. Nationally, FareShare redistributed nearly 26 million meals last year and this figure is growing.
The evening featured a silent auction as a way of fundraising for the charity, businesses from across the region donated a variety of wonderful prizes including Breakout Manchester tickets, a Manchester City football shirt signed by Danilo, tickets to Emirates old Trafford cricket ground, two signed posters from the cricket player James Anderson as well as many more.
Other donations were collected and made into hampers which were used as raffle prizes on the evening. With the help of these kind donations and the generosity of the attendees, the student team managed to raise £336 in less than two hours, all of which was donated to EMERGE for FareShare GM.
Student Ebony Banks said: “The attendees of the event had an enjoyable evening which gave them a first-hand experience of what EMERGE 3Rs and FareShare GM do and what they are planning to do in the future to help many more people; part of the plan is to engage the attendees as formal ‘friends’ and ultimately as ‘champions’ to galvanise many more individuals and companies to support this crucial campaign to take a pro-active role in the fight against food poverty locally in Greater Manchester.
“It was a pleasure to be involved, and shows how this degree helps you to gain first-hand experience of event management.”
