United Against Hunger with the Trussell Trust
we recently visited the Colchester food bank with some brilliant news...Nobody should be left hungry or forced to live in poverty.
That’s why we partnered with the Trussell Trust, the UK’s largest food bank charity, whose nationwide network of 1,300 food banks provides emergency supplies and compassionate support to people in hardship.
Not only do we support their wonderful work by providing them with FREE travel management services, but each of our six UK offices arranges monthly food donations and volunteering from our brilliant staff.
We caught up with some of them to find out more.
A Visit to the Local Food Bank
While the day-to-day work of the Trussell Trust is extremely valuable to thousands of lives, their ambition is to tackle the root causes of poverty and help create a society in which food banks are no longer a necessity – a world where people can thrive rather than survive.
This can only be achieved through the continued support of donors and volunteers from across the country. Our very own Lisa Hornsby, Supplier Revenue Manager, and Lisa Titmas, Team Supervisor, recently visited a food bank in Colchester just a few miles from our global HQ. With them was Chris Watling, our Account Manager at Enterprise Rent-a-Car, whose company had nominated the Trussell Trust for a generous donation as part of their charity foundation.
Lisa Titmas (far right) and Chris Watling from Enterprise (far left) with the Colchester food bank team.
Hi Lisa. Tell us more about your visit to the Colchester food bank.
“It was really eye-opening.”
“Lisa (Titmas) does an absolutely awesome job organising and delivering collections from the Colchester office to the Trussell Trust – usually once or twice per quarter. It was great to hear what difference our work makes.”
“We were thrilled to have Chris from Enterprise join us in our visit too. Enterprise has a charity foundation, the Enterprise Holdings Foundation, where they nominate charities chosen by their partners to receive a donation.”
“Via the foundation, Gray Dawes was able to secure two donations for the food bank – one for £2,000 and another of £2,500. We have also put them forward for another donation this year too.”
Food Banks supported in the UK
People live below the Poverty Line
Emergency Food Parcels Delivered
But the work of the food bank is not supported solely by generous monetary donations…
“We delivered a whopping 27.89kg of food too!” Lisa continues.
“This, alongside the amazing news about how much money we raised last year, created such a positive atmosphere.”
However, there is still so much work to be done.
“During our visit, we were told that this year the Colchester food bank has seen a 26% increase in people through the door in need of help.”Sadly this coincides with donations dropping by 38%, meaning that every donation is critical to them.”
Even small acts of generosity can make a big difference. A few of our Colchester-based team recently volunteered on behalf of the Trussell Trust, visiting a local supermarket to help raise awareness of the food bank. And there’s plenty that you can do to help in your local community too.
Jake Baker from the Gray Dawes IT team volunteering for the Trussell Trust at the local supermarket.
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