The Cumberland donates £175,000 in its third year of Kinder Kind of Kitchen initiative
The Cumberland is making a £175,000 donation to support food banks and projects helping communities in need.
The six-figure donation means the building society has given a total of £675,000 to its Kinder Kind of Kitchen initiative since it began in 2023.
It’s been helping FareShare Glasgow and the West of Scotland (delivered by Move On) and FareShare Lancashire and Cumbria (delivered by Recycling Lives Charity) support people to overcome the main challenge many face daily: food poverty.
As The Cumberland marks its 175th anniversary in 2025, and as part of its commitment to kinder banking, it is continuing to support the initiative by donating another £175,000. FareShare Lancashire & Cumbria are receiving £158,000 and FareShare Glasgow and the West of Scotland are receiving £17,000.
In its first year in 2023, The Cumberland joined forces with FareShare Lancashire and Cumbria to help the charity’s network of food banks across Cumbria and Lancashire.
The initiative, called Kinder Kind of Kitchen, 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.
Since The Cumberland became involved, hundreds of volunteers from 64 community groups have served hundreds of thousands of meals.
This year, they have once again teamed up with FareShare Lancashire and Cumbria and FareShare Glasgow and the West of Scotland to support of frontline charities and community groups.
In 2023 additional funding from the building society provided fridges, freezers and chiller cabinets to members who needed them, and last year it provided kitchen equipment such as slow-cookers and air-fryers.
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.”
Naomi Winter, Community Partnerships & 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.
“Our members are really grateful too. This donation can help free up some of their finances, which we know can be increasingly hard to come by. This means that even in the face of rising demand, they can sustain and even expand their work.”
Jim Burns, Director 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-direct 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, such as Kate’s Kitchen, 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 service 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.”