Stephen Barry
Glasgow Caledonian University
Alec Wersun
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Poverty alleviation; Health and Well-being; Building resilient communities.
Community Foods Initiative North East (CFINE) was established in 1997, with the aim to alleviate food poverty, by collecting supermarket food waste and redistributing it, via foodbanks, to those in poverty. The organisation promotes healthy eating by redistributing large quantities of healthy fruit and vegetables otherwise destined for landfill.
The organisation was formed when a group of seven small food cooperatives decided to work together, and formed the Food Cooperatives Network North East. The company consists of 30 members of, over 130 volunteers and work placements; including adults with learning difficulties in supported training. CFINEs initial aim was to reduce hunger by supporting individual food coops and helping them to work together.
Since its inception, CFINE has been committed to alleviating poverty and improving health and wellbeing by distributing fresh food, particularly fruit and vegetables. However, CFINE has expanded and now provides a wide range of support to disadvantaged and vulnerable people throughout the North East of Scotland.
The organisation currently supports over 60 community food outlets, works with 200 partners and has a wholly owned commercial enterprise which delivers fruit and vegetables to local businesses and other customers, the profit from from which are then redirected back into supporting the foodbanks.
The organisation also addresses environmental issues, poverty, hunger, and inequality. The organisation's chief executive Dave Simmers believes strongly that issues such as poverty should not exist in North East Aberdeenshire in 2017.
CFINE estimates that it will distribute over 70,000 food parcels in 2017, including 500 tonnes of fresh produce, and in diverting this food, otherwise destined for landfill, CFINE also reduces the environmental impact of food waste, which Mr Simmers describes as 'staggering.'
CFINEs initial innovation was to improve health and reduce hunger through food coops, now named community food outlets. More recently, CFINE has been supporting people through its food bank and its 61 partners in Food Poverty Action Aberdeen. Food and other items e.g. toiletries are donated by supermarkets and their suppliers, CFINE then organises and distributes the produce to those in food poverty directly or via its partners. Not content with simply helping the poor and vulnerable out of hunger CFINE has expanded to provide a range of support services including employability support, money and debt advice and help with fuel poverty. This is accomplished either directly by CFINE staff and/or by forming partnerships with outside advisors who come to the business to provide their services to CFINE’s patrons. CFINE has also recently set up a community training kitchen designed for teaching low income families how to reduce food waste and cook healthy meals on a budget.
Central to CFINEs success are the fantastic working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, amongst which are charitable organisations like Pathways and SCARF (Save Cash and Reduce Fuel), supermarkets like Tesco and most importantly the 130 volunteers who give up their time. CFINE’s staff team and include financial capability officers, van drivers, store people and development staff. CFINE’s staff and volunteers strive to achieve CFINE’s vision of regeneration in the North East. CFINE attracts volunteers by offering the opportunity to build confidence, form social networks, learn new skills and experience which will assist the individuals in gaining further employment.
When asked what the inspiration for the project was Mr. Simmers reveals that CFINE was one of several purpose-driven organisations that he has been involved with in different capacities since 1993. With regards to the inspiration for CFINE Mr. Simmers cites the Aberdeen Foyer for young homeless and unemployed people. It was developed with the hope of providing care and well-being to those in need as well as providing confidence to those when in job interviews. Dave Simmers has previously held a number of important positions including his time as the head of social strategy for Grampian regional council, where there was a fruit and veg co-op operating in one of the youth projects, which was then incorporated into Aberdeen Foyer. This sold fruit and veg and, at the same time, Grampian Health Promotions was selling fruit and veg to low income people from the back of a van. These two initiatives contributed to the regeneration of communities and formed the embryonic beginnings of what is now CFINE.
Later, Mr. Simmers then left the council to become a consultant, and was recruited to draft the Food Cooperative Network North East’s constitution and prepared a successful funding bid. This was the launch of the formal body and, over time, Mr. Simmers was inspired to develop the idea of creating a public-private partnership organisation that incorporates all of the activities that would also enable him to put his knowledge and experience to good use.
Tackling poverty was one of CFINE’s motivations, as well as addressing issues faced by the local communities such as health inequalities. Dave Simmers says “The food co-ops had within them so many powerful characteristics in terms of gender, tackling inequalities and poverty. So, it was about the food we are eating, which has such an impact on health and wellbeing, more fruit and veg leads to better health”. Achieving good health and well-being is of great importance to CFINE and Dave Simmers. CFINE also helps to develop the local community and reduce poverty by working together with a variety of groups. This forming of social networks and community building is then used to develop poorer areas and to improve quality of life as well as trying to reduce the high levels of inequality within the area.
CFINEs impact is truly inspirational with Mr. Simmers estimating that over 70,000 food parcels will be distributed to people who are living in poverty in the North East in 2017. The organisation also supports other charities through their membership of the FareShare initiative, which sees thousands of tonnes of food which would usually go to waste redistributed around the UK to a variety of organisations. For this CFINE uses its resources and 4 voluntary drivers to share food with 170 partner Fareshare organisations throughout the North East including the Salvation Army, Cyrenians and Aberdeen Foyer.
What food isn’t shared or distributed through various food banks across the NE (Grampian) area is used in the organisation's recently opened community training kitchen. The kitchen located in Aberdeen has eight work stations and commits to recruiting, supporting and training to low income individuals on how to reduce food waste and cook healthy meals on a budget.
“In 2017, we will save around 250 tonnes of carbon emissions as a result of the FareShare scheme. The food we get from the scheme is then distributed to our own food bank and through other partners”. However, CFINE and their partners don’t view foodbanks as a long-term solution to poverty in the North East and as such CFINE provides training and activities designed to reduce income inequality. These include providing low income households with training facilities such as the ‘Cook at the ‘Nook community training kitchen. CFINE further offer computers for use and they provide supported training to over 30 adults with learning difficulties.
Giving something back to the local community is of course very important to Mr. Simmers whom, when asked if a high point in his career stood out, he had so many memories to share. “I was looking out of my office and a moment ago, I got distracted by a volunteer who is about 40 years old and he has brain damage due to a car crash, he’s been coming now for 10 years’, half a day a week with his carer. There is also another volunteer with Downs Syndrome, who also has been attending for 10years and a woman volunteer, attending for the same length of time and who has got nobody in the world and suffers from severe anxiety and depression. I’m her next of kin.” You can sense the feeling of pride in the work CFINE are doing as Mr. Simmers closes his answer with the words “Yes we’re very good you know”.
CFINE has expanded to include a large stakeholder base, which it leverages to keep the food bank and other activities operational and facilitate expansion into a range of organisations in the region. They have developed working relationships with many private, public and voluntary organisations that benefit from CFINEs sharing of resources. This includes allowing corporations to use the training kitchen for team building days, something that brings in income that keeps the kitchen operational, which are then used to teach cooking skills to those on low incomes. They also provide low cost, affordable office space to six sub-tenants, which it then uses to fund its non income-generating operations. In all, CFINE provides services to around two thousand people each month and uses its resources to assist and provide support to other charities in the North East.
Societal benefit
The vast numbers of stakeholders and interconnectedness CFINE has established allows the company to act as a hub through which a variety of stakeholders can connect. This network includes HM Prison Service, Aberdeenshire Council, fuel poverty charities, financial advisors, credit unions, over 180 partner organisations distributing FareShare produce and also includes supermarkets like Tesco and Sainsbury’s. CFINE excels at working with their huge stakeholder base to provide valuable benefits to those struggling at the very bottom of society. CFINE helps ex-offenders to develop employment skills and provides computers and internet access for job seeking and benefit applications.
Environmental benefit
CFINE is currently expanding into reducing the environmental impact of waste electronic equipment by piloting a scheme designed to recycle used electronics. Their partnership with SCARF helps to provide low income individuals with advice on ways to reduce fuel use, improve energy efficiency and subsequently reduce energy bills. By far the biggest environmental impact CFINE has however is that their entire business model reduces food waste by collecting surplus food destined for landfill from partners such as Tesco.
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