Colleagues at Sunderland-headquartered renewable energy developer OnPath Energy have handed over a four-figure sum to a city food poverty charity.
The OnPath Energy team adopted the Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen as their English dedicated charity for 2025 and carried out a range of fundraising activities through the year, including raffles, sweepstakes and selling knitted chicks at Easter.
A total of £2,313 was brought in by the team, with the company’s pledge to match every £1,000 that they raised meaning that a donation of £4,313 has now been made to the charity.
And OnPath colleagues have now voted to continue raising money for the Soup Kitchen right through 2026.
Alongside their fundraising, 11 OnPath Energy colleagues have spent time volunteering at the Soup Kitchen’s High Street West headquarters, serving meals and chatting to service users about their lives and the positive impact that the charity has on the local community.
The team also donated over 130kg of food to the Soup Kitchen’s recent “Mack A Meal” project, which aims to help people learn more about how to make hearty, affordable meals, while it ran a clothing drive to collect high quality clothes for selling through the charity’s Funky G vintage store on East Cross Street.
Plans are now being put in place by the OnPath team for further fundraising activities, which will include Three Peaks and Hadrian’s Wall challenges.
Founded in 2019 by CEO Andrea Bell, Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen provides freshly cooked hot meals which are available to anyone in need, whether on a regular basis or just once in a while, for a nominal fee.
It is open from 6-7pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with more than 60 local volunteers helping to deliver its services every week.
Alongside its core services, Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen also now delivers a growing range of educational and life skills courses through its TriBeCa Community Hub, including cookery, food hygiene, time management, CV writing, interview skills and communication skills.
It receives no statutory funding, and relies entirely on support from local people, regional businesses and grant-giving organisations, as well as on its own fundraising efforts.
Headquartered at Rainton Bridge Business Park, OnPath Energy is one of the UK’s leading onshore renewable energy developers.
The firm’s Scottish office team has raised a further £8,112 for their 2025 dedicated charity, the Beatson Cancer Charity in Glasgow, which works to improve the experience, treatment and outcomes for cancer patients and their families.
Katie Walvin, who was one of the OnPath Energy volunteers, says: “The Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen team steps up to help people in real need by providing both practical assistance and healthy meals, and we’re extremely pleased to be extending our support to their work with this donation.
“The time we’ve spent in the kitchen puts our fundraising work into proper context and has enabled us to see at first hand just how much of an impact the Soup Kitchen has on the lives of those that visit.”
Ashleigh Richardson, revenue & development officer at Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen, adds: “We are incredibly grateful to everyone at OnPath Energy for their generosity, commitment and hands-on support throughout 2025.
“The fundraising, food donations and time spent volunteering with our team have made a real difference to the people who rely on our services.
“OnPath Energy is a fantastic organisation with a genuine commitment to community, and we are so thankful that they are extending their support into 2026.
“This continued partnership will help us reach even more people in need across Sunderland.”
For more information on Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen’s work, visit https://www.facebook.com/sunderlandcommunitysoupkitchen