A community group supporting people facing hunger in Greenford has collected more than 130 tonnes of surplus food and made 10,000 collections through its partnership with food charity FareShare.
Shree Jalaram Mandir is a Hindu temple and community centre in Greenford that has been redistributing surplus food to homeless people and anyone else struggling to feed themselves in London for the last five years. They also serve lunch to more than 250 people every day at the temple and make regular food donations to support other local community projects.
Since October 2017, the temple has regularly collected food from numerous Tesco stores around London via FareShare Go, including Colleague Shop, Harrow Express, Wembley Tube Station Express, and Greenford Oldfield Express.
Dr Mansukh Morjaria, Trustee at Shree Jalaram Temple, said: “FareShare food enables Jalaram Temple to fight hunger and tackle food waste. We give out bags of pastries, we make up sandwiches, and we give away vegetables.
“We also have a lot of people through our doors each day, many of them disabled or elderly. They know they’ll get a nice hot meal and it’s a good way for them to be around other people. Aside from the spiritual side to the temple, many people come for the food.”
In 2021, Tesco also awarded vouchers to the team at Shree Jalaram Mandir to help aid their work in supporting homeless people.
Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive at FareShare, said: “Shree Jalaram Mandir is making such a huge difference to people facing in need in the community, and it’s amazing to see their commitment to collecting and redistributing food from their local supermarkets.
“We work with thousands of charities and community groups providing essential support to their local communities, and receiving a steady stream of food helps them to feed the people that need it most.”
