It’s the time for food collections! Every year, usually at the end of November – early December, many FEBA members organise a national Food Collection in collaboration with retailers. During this occasion citizens are invited to make a gesture of solidarity purchasing food when they are grocery shopping and donating this food to Food Banks. Food Collections are only made possible by the collaboration of thousands of supermarkets and retailers and the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of volunteers and millions of citizens.

The European Food Banks Federation is launching a challenge to its members on the occasion of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste which will be celebrated on 29 September 2021 : “What’s the daily contribution of your organisation to food waste prevention?” Participants have to share their story with everyone and can try to win up to 10,000 euros for their organisation!

In 2021 FEBA celebrates its 35^th anniversary. Since 1986, the organisation contributes to reducing food insecurity in Europe, through food waste prevention and the call for solidarity. To fulfil this mission, FEBA has fostered the development and creation of a network of Food Banks throughout Europe to save good food from becoming waste and assist charitable organisations providing food to more and more people in need.

The UN General Assembly designated 2021 the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV). FAO is the lead agency for celebrating the year in collaboration with other relevant organizations and bodies of the United Nations system. The IYFV 2021 is a unique opportunity to raise awareness on the important role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition, food security and health and as well in achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals. On this occasion, FEBA will organize different events throughout the year.

As COVID-19 spread across Europe, the European Food Banks Federation and our membership committed to fulfil our mission – preventing food waste and reducing food insecurity in Europe. So much of our work in 2020 focused on the devastating effects of the pandemic. Leaning in to one of our core strengths – our flexibility and ability to respond concretely as needs arise – we launched new initiatives to support our members and we digitalized our activity. At the same time, we continued to stay focused on all our work and we contributed to the policy-making process at European level as well as the international arena. We also launched a major new area of work – Quantifying the Impact of European Food Banks – aimed at sharing a standardized and consistent methodology for data collection within FEBA membership and we established the first online European Observatory on Food Donation.

After one year of the coronavirus pandemic, our members are still working tirelessly to rescue surplus food and ensure its safe redistribution to charities helping people in need across Europe.