We have been proud to be involved with the Thomas Franks Feeding Communities initiative. Here, Catering Manager, James Pate, takes a look back on what we have been able to provide during lockdown.
James says:
“We have raised in the region of £20,000 in order to do whatever we can to help those that are most in need in the Blackburn with Darwen and wider Lancashire area. Thomas Franks launched the project with a donation and since then we have had separate donations from Newground Together, The Duchy of Lancaster fund, The Blackburn Carers Service, Age UK respectively and the Ivy St Community Centre. With these very generous donations we have provided:
- 10,100 meals to the most vulnerable people in Blackburn with Darwen, including; The Blackburn with Darwen (BwD) Carers Service, Ivy ST Community Centre, Newground Together, Age UK, Youth Action, Blackburn Youth Zone, Healthy Living, Community Business Partners, Benefit Mankind, The Barlow, Nightsafe, THOMAS foundation, Salvation Army, ARC and Blackburn Foodbank. These meals have been publicised through various media outlets and local publications in order to gain more donations.
- 1000 meals on a day free of charge to the whole community as part of the Thomas Franks BIG FEED
- 1000 pieces of fruit and drinks to the North West ambulance head office in Blackpool
- Donations to the Blackburn Food Bank
- Weekly donations of frozen meals and other food items that have been donated to us from our various suppliers nationwide. 100 cases of popcorn, 2 pallets of frozen airline meals, 1000 robinsons drinks, 800 innocent smoothies, 2 pallets of Vegan fillets and pieces and 2000 ‘Pot’ pasta ready meals were all been donated to the partners listed above and moving forwards, we hope this is something we can continue to contribute towards as long as we can”
James goes onto say, “the most positive part of the whole endeavour has been the way in which so many different organisations have rallied together to help those that need it most. From the first moment, the Council were extremely positive and helped us greatly from a logistical and financial point of view and we very much hope to continue the relationship going forward”.
“During August, we are taking part in the BwD Holiday Hunger programme. This is a government funded initiative, enabling over 2000 children that would usually be on free school dinners to have a place to go and a hot meal for four weeks through the summer holidays. We have committed to be a large part of this program and will be producing 795 meals every day throughout August and will oversee the whole hot food offer logistically for 1500 meals”.
Westholme School, Thomas Franks and the BwD Council Food Committee, have been proud to show our support towards this initiative.
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