OnPath Energy adopts Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen as 2025 dedicated charity

The OnPath team voted to adopt the Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen as their English dedicated charity for 2025, with the company matching every £1,000 that colleagues raise in the next 12 months, up to a maximum of £5,000.

And as well as undertaking a range of fundraising activities through the year, members of the OnPath team will also be volunteering at the Soup Kitchen, joining more than 60 other local volunteers who help to deliver the charity’s services every week.

Founded in 2019 by CEO Andrea Bell, Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen provides free, freshly cooked hot meals for around 100 local people during every shift which are available to anyone in need, whether on a regular basis or just once in a while.

It moved into its Albert’s Place home on High Street West in the city in 2021 and is open from 3-4pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and between noon and 1pm on Sundays.

The charity recently opened a breakfast pit stop café for people working in the local area and is set to open a new community hub later this year which will be available for local businesses, groups and organisations to hire for their events and activities.

It also has its own allotments on which some of its service users help to tend and grow much of the fruit and vegetables that are used to make its meals.

Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen receives no statutory funding, and relies entirely on its own fundraising efforts and support from local people, regional businesses and grant-giving organisations.

Ashleigh Richardson, assistant to the CEO, says: “The Kitchen is open free of charge to anyone for however long or short a time they need our help, and we don’t ask people to register or provide any personal information, so that everyone feels comfortable in coming along whenever they need to.

“The local demand for our services keeps growing and we’re bringing forward a number of new projects and ideas this year which will help us raise the money we need to keep covering our costs, including our new Funky G online vintage clothes boutique.

“It’s fabulous for us to get the backing of local businesses like OnPath Energy, not only for the practical and financial support they provide, but also for the access to additional expertise and new networks that can really help us carry out our work more effectively.

“We’re grateful that the OnPath team has chosen to work with us this year and look forward to welcoming them into our kitchen at different times through the year.”

Headquartered at Rainton Bridge Business Park, OnPath Energy owns and operates 12 onshore wind farms across Scotland and England and is one of the UK’s leading onshore renewable energy developers.

The firm’s Scottish office team has chosen the Beatson Cancer Charity in Glasgow, which works to improve the experience, treatment and outcomes for cancer patients and their families, as their 2025 dedicated charity.

Katie Walvin of OnPath Energy, who nominated the Community Soup Kitchen to be the firm’s dedicated charity, adds: “The Soup Kitchen team and volunteers are providing an invaluable service to people in need in our city and their unwavering commitment to stepping up wherever the need arises really epitomises the North East’s generous spirit.

“We’re really pleased to be able to support their work this year, both through raising money and also, through our staff volunteering programme, by being part of a brilliant team that provides so many much-needed meals every week.”

Nicky Gallagher, human resources director at OnParth Energy, says: “As a business and as individuals, we feel strongly about making a difference in the communities in which we work, so wanted to come together to raise money for local charities close to both our English and Scottish offices.

“We have lots of team fundraising activities and events planned that will help us reach our fundraising target and plan to have a lot of fun along the way."