Incommunities in £3,000 festive donation to local foodbanks
This year Incommunities has decided to make its annual Christmas donation to three local foodbanks who are facing their busiest time ever, made especially tough by the pandemic.
The housing group are making £1000 donations to three partners – Bradford Central Foodbank, Bradford Metropolitan Food Bank and the Welcome Trust in Huddersfield.
During the first lockdown Incommunities staff joined Council teams and volunteers to distribute over 14,000 food parcels to families in need. The housing group also provided hundreds of items to foodbank stocks in Bradford and Keighley and 200 refugees and asylum seekers in the city.
This year, with the group’s housing staff working differently under the national restrictions, it’s not been possible for them to drop off food and other essentials to collection points in the workplace, so instead, money donations are being made.
Graham Walker from Bradford Metropolitan Food Bank said: "Everyone at the foodbank is so appreciative of the fantastic support shown by Incommunities.
"We are handing out up to 2,000 emergency food bags a month and our figures are rising. Christmas is going to be particularly tough for many families and New Year is always worse as the bills start to come in again!
"We really rely on the support of local businesses and the community to help us Your generous contributions will make a big difference."
Josie Barlow, Manager of Bradford Central Foodbank said: "This donation from Incommunities is so vitally needed. It’s been so wonderful to see the generosity of the Bradford community really putting their weight behind supporting the most vulnerable families this winter and over Christmas. Their support means that we are feeding over 500 families a month."
Geraldine Howley, Incommunities Group Chief Executive said: "We are proud to be supporting the fantastic work of the army of foodbank volunteers helping local families and individuals in real hardship.
"Making these Christmas donations will hopefully help towards meeting the demands placed on the foodbanks and we are also encouraging staff to make their own donations either online or by dropping food off at local collection points set up by the volunteers."
Each year, Incommunities makes a festive donation to a different charity, instead of sending out Christmas cards to customers and partners.