To mark World Kindness Day 2025, The Cumberland brought its Kinder Kind of Kitchen initiative to Carlisle city centre today, serving pizza and waffles at a pop-up tent – with a twist.
Instead of paying with money, customers were invited to pay with kindness by donating items to the local food bank at The Cumberland’s pop-up collection point; contributing to the society’s festive selection box fundraiser by scanning an on-site QR code; or offering to volunteer with FareShare Lancashire & Cumbria.
Des Moore, CEO of The Cumberland, cut the ribbon to open the event which he said was central to the building society’s Kinder Banking ethos.
“Today is about celebrating World Kindness Day and kindness is very important to us at The Cumberland.
“What we’re doing today underpins our Kinder Kind of Kitchens initiative which is all about supporting FareShare in their efforts to reduce food waste but more importantly, provide food for people who can’t afford it.”
The event followed research by The Cumberland highlighting the need for greater food support awareness in Cumbria.
More than 350 people responded and the results revealed that 54.8% did not know where their nearest food bank is located, and many were unsure what items to donate, the biggest barrier to supporting food banks.
In response, The Cumberland is promoting FareShare’s list of most-needed items and raising awareness of local food bank locations through event materials and social media activity.
The findings also showed strong community spirit, with more than two-thirds ready to consider volunteering an hour of their time if they thought it could make a difference.
Brenda Phillips, assistant manager at Carlisle Food Bank, said the event would help highlight their work in the run-up to Christmas.
“It’s amazing to be raising awareness in the community. We are so grateful to be working alongside The Cumberland and FareShare,” she said.
“We are well supported in the community, especially leading up to Christmas. We have a lot more families who come to us at this time of the year.”
Also supporting the event were Carlisle United. Teresa Mulholland, EDI lead for the club and the Sports Community Trust, said “We have a really long relationship with The Cumberland and this is something that we really wanted to be part of.
“It emphasises the work we do as a football club and community sports trust – we support the food bank and hold collections twice a year.”
Joe Lawson, who works at Wilkinson Cameras in the city centre, was attracted by The Cumberland tent and inspired to donate.
He said: “There are various ways to spread kindness including donating to the local food bank or even volunteering which is what piqued my interest so I ran off to Tesco and bought a few tins for the food bank and in return enjoyed some waffles and pizzas.
“It is important to support people who are less fortunate.”
The Kinder Kind of Kitchen initiative is part of The Cumberland’s ongoing commitment to tackling food poverty, with £175,000 donated in 2025 alone, bringing total contributions to £675,000 since the programme launched in 2023.
Through partnerships with FareShare Glasgow & the West of Scotland and FareShare Lancashire & Cumbria, the initiative in its second year alone helped deliver the equivalent of 1.3 million meals and prevent over 105 tonnes of food waste.
