Guest blog by Lily
At Hughes, we see ourselves as part of the community. A reputable and dependable company and not just another faceless corporate brand. That’s why, when John Eccles at our Preston branch was approached by Nikki Hart from the Blackpool Food Partnership; he jumped at the chance to help.
The Blackpool Food Partnership is a volunteer run food drive and food redistribution centre who work in partnership with a number of community services and are sponsored by many local retailers. Established in 2014, they provide approximately 8000 people a year with food and collect about £60,000 worth of surplus food per year; which is then redistributed across 38 different organisations including hostels, soup kitchens and children’s centres. With an aim to improve local sustainable food, ensure surplus food is put to good use and supporting families and individuals affected by food poverty; Blackpool Food Partnership does a great service for the community.
However due to increasing demand, the capacity for help was being strained. As a volunteer run organization, the charity relies on donations from their sponsors and other public services to run events that benefit the people that use their service. That’s what led Nikki Hart; manager and project coordinator at Blackpool Food Partnership to call on us to do our bit to support the local community of our Preston branch.
Nikki contacted us the week beginning the 8th of February to ask us to provide a freezer so they could help a lot more people by minimizing on food wastage. Branch manager John Eccles approved to supply them with a brand new chest freezer which was delivered to them on Monday the 15th February. Nikki Hart remarked that she was “over the moon at our quick response.”
Blackpool Food Partnership were also lucky enough to feature as Charity of the Week on BBC Lancashire. We are very proud to support such a fantastic cause; they do so much for the community by providing nutrition to those affected by food poverty. We will continue to support this charity as a partner along with other reputable retailers such as Booths and Sainsbury’s.
