Following our yearly Christmas email campaign where we give a pound to charity for every email we send out, and a pound for every reply, we have donated £400 for the Trussell Trust foodbank in York.
We recently made the first instalment of the donation to the foodbank – purchasing £300 worth of food and household goods to donate. You’ll see Steve standing by the car and Mark doing a final check when we handed over the goods. Look at the last photo – the bags in the middle are the supplies for a small family – not a lot to live on.
It really was a great experience buying the food and dropping it off ourselves. We heard first hand the stories of people using the foodbank – of families where the main earners fell ill, had lost jobs or were just in need. The volunteers all had a personal story to tell.
We found it interesting that they were really surprised at what we were doing. They were used to personal donations and to large businesses making donations. They were even used to supermarkets and schools arranging collections from individuals. They weren’t used to businesses spontaneously deciding to make a significant donation. This has to say something about the disconnection between small businesses and their communities. It’s a shame, there has to be a place for ethical businesses operating in a commercial but socially engaged manner.
Thanks you for the support from those of you who responded. We’ll be donating again next Christmas and doing a bit of fundraising in between….but more of that shortly.