The Cumberland has made a £175,000 donation to support local charities supporting those facing food insecurity.
The six-figure donation means the Cumbria-based building society has given a total of £675,000 to its Kinder Kind of Kitchen initiative since it began in 2023.
As The Cumberland marks its 175th anniversary in 2025 it is continuing to support the initiative by donating another £175,000, of which FareShare Lancashire and Cumbria are receiving £158,000 and FareShare Glasgow and the West of Scotland are receiving £17,000.
It launched its Kinder Kind of Kitchen initiative in June 2023, partnering with the charity FareShare Lancashire and Cumbria, operated by Recycling Lives Charity, which distributed the donation to its network of community food group members across the two counties.
The initiative was a huge success helping provide hundreds of thousands of meals and allowing food projects to reach more people.
In 2024, The Cumberland decided to repeat the initiative and extend it to help support food projects in Dumfries and Galloway for the first time, partnering with FareShare Glasgow and the West of Scotland, delivered by Move On.
Since The Cumberland became involved, volunteers from 64 community groups have served hundreds of thousands of meals.
Claire Deekes, chief customer officer at The Cumberland, said: “It’s incredibly moving to see the impact local food projects are having across our communities, and we’re proud to support them for a third year with a £175,000 donation.
“Visiting the projects and meeting the volunteers gives us a real sense of how essential this support is – and how our funding is helping them continue, and in many cases expand, their work.
“Sadly, the need remains high, with more people than ever struggling to access the basics. That’s why we’ve chosen to continue our Kinder Kind of Kitchen initiative, reaching people who really need a helping of kindness.”
Fiona Heslam, a volunteer at the Village Larder in Great Clifton, Workington, added: “We couldn’t have got started without the support we’ve received from Recycling Lives Charity and The Cumberland.
“Ours was previously a mining and industrial area and I’d listened to lots of people saying how they missed the sense of community that used to be here.
“There’s no shop or pub in the village where we first started up, and food is a great way of getting a community spirit going.
“We set up in March 2024, signed up for the Kinder Kind of Kitchen initiative and started to receive a huge variety of food.
“But then, quite unexpectedly, the village hall where we’d started up withdrew use of it to our group.
“Recycling Lives were incredibly supportive and enabled us to move, at speed, to a neighbouring village’s hall. So we were able to continue, and we’ve grown since then, too.”
Naomi Winter, community partnerships and volunteering manager for Recycling Lives Charity, said: “We’re so pleased to be renewing this partnership. It’s already helped us to create a massive amount of impact, getting food out to even more groups and creating savings for our members.
“It’s been great to work with The Cumberland’s teams over the last few years – we can see their real enthusiasm and passion for helping communities.”
Jim Burns, cirector of operations at Move On, the charity that delivers FareShare Glasgow and the West of Scotland, said: “Our work with FareShare Glasgow and the West of Scotland re-directs surplus food to charities in Dumfries and Galloway, working with people directly affected by food insecurity, providing an essential lifeline to the most vulnerable in our communities.
“Our community food partners use the surplus food we supply and turn it into nutritious, healthy meals, helping to improve the health and wellbeing of those who access their vital services and other services like it in Dumfries and Galloway.
“In order for us to continue to provide this vital work and supply surplus food to charities we rely on support from The Cumberland, who we have worked with over the last two years.
“They have been pivotal in not only providing funding to us, but also on the ground support, volunteering at both at our FareShare depot and at our community food partners. They help and support us to highlight the essential work we do.
“We are very grateful and excited that The Cumberland have chosen to continue to support us again this year and are thrilled that, with their backing, to be able to continue our work in Dumfries and Galloway.”
