King Charles Tackles Food Bank Spoilage With Freezer Donations

King Charles is well known for his charitable work. He founded The Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund in 1979 with "a mission to transform lives and build sustainable communities." The fund partners with and supports various non-profit organizations, whose efforts range from providing pandemic-related relief and promoting sustainable businesses to ecological conservation and growing organic foods.

One of the organizations with which the fund partners is The Felix Project, a charity created in 2016 to address food insecurity and food waste in the U.K. The Felix Project identified that 6.7 million adults and children in the U.K. suffer from food insecurity. Meanwhile, each year the food industry in the nation produces three million tons of food waste. The goal of The Felix Project is to redistribute this food to those who need it most, though a press release from The Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund noted one significant challenge. CEO of The Felix Project, Charlotte Hill said, "At Christmas we see a huge increase in surplus donations, yet unfortunately in previous years we have had to turn down tens of thousands of kilograms of food." The problem is finding a way to store those surplus donations for the times when demand exceeds supply.

The BBC reported that up to 800 refrigerators and freezers would be distributed to food banks and local charities, an initiative funded by The Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund and the King himself. The partnership between the fund and The Felix Project will help address what the fund calls "unprecedented levels of need" for food relief due to the rising cost of living, inflation, and high fuel costs that have put enormous pressure on lower-income families.

A fund trustee said the donation of freezers and refrigerators would improve food banks' ability to redistribute food to those in need and help ensure surplus food isn't wasted, an effort that's central to the mission of The Felix Project. In 2021, The Felix Project collected and delivered 30 million meals, and Hill said of the donation, "we will not only be able to freeze and store vast quantities of food, we will be protected when food supplies are low due to seasonal dips, and we can create a long-lasting infrastructure for our community partners that will help people for many years to come." The BBC explains that 800 refrigerators and freezers will be delivered to charities and food banks from December 2022 through spring 2023.