Retailer joins initiative to fight hunger
“I started collecting food in my car and handing it out to people,” said Mr Dempsey. “It quickly escalated, so I had to get a van and we had to store food in different places around Cork. It wasn’t ideal. Last year, I handled 300 tonnes of food.”
As he sat in the Bia Food Initiative’s (BiaFi) new 10,000sq ft warehouse in Little Island yesterday, he was adamant that “feeding the hungry” was now going to a new level.
The charity aims to deliver 3,000 tonnes of food to needy families around Munster with the aid of computer technology and a team of volunteers.
“This is serious stuff,” said Mr Dempsey. “I was operating at a Mickey Mouse level but this will be run by professionals and provide a huge service to the public.”
He said the recession had left families devastated, with many breadwinners having lost their jobs and being so hard-pressed that even food is beyond their reach.
“We are looking after more than 5,000 families a week in the Cork area alone. Calls to our offices for help rose 30% last year. A lot more middle-class families are also asking for food. We’re dealing with tears and it’s very difficult.”
BiaFi’s aims and the help of Tesco could be crucial in eradicating food poverty. Similar charities already operate food distribution centres in France, Germany, and Britain, but this is its first venture in Ireland.
BiaFi will facilitate the transfer of large-scale surplus food from food-related businesses to local charities to help tackle food poverty.
“Using a state-of-the-art food inventory system, which will ensure full traceability and compliance with all national food standards, charities will be able to select and order from the stocks of donated food on an as-needed basis, ensuring the best possible use of the donated food stocks,” said BiaFi director Eoin McCuirc.
In addition to providing financial support, Tesco has supported BiaFi by seconding a senior operations manager to the distribution centre for the last three months to advise on best practice for stock management as well as warehousing codes of practice particularly for health and safety.
“Tesco’s operations team will work closely with BiaFi on a continuing basis to support the day-to-day operations of the BiaFi distribution centre,” said Mr McCuirc.
Tesco retail support director Ciarán Foley said his company runs the country’s largest distribution network with more than 250 deliveries per day to its 146 stores nationwide.
“We are delighted to be able to share this expertise with BiaFi to ensure that the organisation has the systems and capabilities to deliver on its objectives as Ireland’s first national food redistribution centre,” said Mr Foley.
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