Helping out at the Thurrock Foodbank
Business Development Manager Alan Knight and Project Co-Ordinator Matthew High offered their services to the Foodbank to help out for a day. At this time of the year the foodbank make up Christmas Hampers to donate to families and individuals who really need it. With this in mind Alan and Matthew filled their trolley with Christmas puddings, mince pies and cook in sauces and set off to the foodbank.
Dressed in their Christmas jumpers they arrived at the foodbank and met all the volunteers (also dressed in Christmas jumpers) who give up their time to work one or two days a week. Every bit of food that is donated to the centre has to be weighed and logged so Downwell’s donation entered on the system.
Alan and Matthew were soon put to work as there is always plenty to do. They have volunteer van drivers who go out and collect food from the various collection points. Throughout the day the good folk of Thurrock were also bringing in food and the warehouse began to get very full.
The volunteers including Helen, Margaret, Deborah, Sandra, Derek and Ian made us feel very welcome.
Once the food has been weighed it has to be sorted for date to ensure it is fit to go out again. This is done by identifying the best before date and writing it clearly on the cans etc. As you can imagine it is very time consuming and this is why they rely on volunteers.
At lunchtime Downwell bought everyone lunch and sat down to talk to the volunteers. They work extremely hard and give us much time as they can. There is a great team spirit amongst them and Alan and Matthew really enjoyed the day.
Thurrock foodbank are always please to hear from individuals or companies that would like to help out in any way they can. For more information:
Visit the Foodbank Website for more information
