Box firm comes to the rescue
STUART PIKE
WHEN an awardwinning local volunteer group put out a social media appeal for storage boxes for their food bank, a local firm stepped in to help.
Hyndburn Helpers, which provides food and essential items to the needy from their Accrington base, appealed for secure storage to keep their donations in good condition.
Michelle Davies and David Booth visited the What More offices and in the showroom were shown a selection of the many plastic boxes produced at the company’s Altham factory.
With a large amount of food to be sorted, stored and distributed the storage needed to be robust, secure and allow for a system of identification.
The colour options of the boxes would help in sorting all the donated food, one of the biggest tasks ahead for Michelle, David and their team of five volunteers, who were recognised earlier this year at the Hyndburn Business Awards.
Community support worker Michelle said the storage was really important to them.
She said: “After people from around the community have been so generous in donating to the food bank we want to make sure that we can store it all securely and get it to the people who need it most in the local area.
“Having good strong boxes, which keep the food safe and secure is vitally important to the project. We are totally reliant on donations, as we receive no government funding. When the team at What More came and delivered the boxes we quickly filled them all.
“The team told us that if we needed some more they could help and we are receiving a second delivery”.
Adam Wilkinson, What More’s marketing and product development manager, said they were only too pleased to help out. He added: “As a large local manufacturer we are very aware of our place in the community and we take a pride in it.
“For many of our workforce the Hyndburn area is where they live or grew up. To find out that people are so in need of food in your local area is a real eye opener.
“When we heard of the great community work the Hyndburn Helpers were doing and found out they were desperate for plastic storage for their food bank we really wanted to help.”
The Hyndburn Helpers support families and people who find themselves in difficult financial circumstances by providing a food parcel, essential items or hot food.
The small team of five help up to 30 people every Monday and Wednesday by serving hot food from St James Church, in Cannon Street, and in between also deliver food parcels when needed.
They have regular service users, and have helped people including veterans and are now trying to set up a service to help families in the summer holidays whose children receive free school meals.
Hyndburn Helpers receive donations of hot food from local takeaway owners Home-Run and the Balti House in Rishton and end of day produce from Greggs, Costa, milk from Spar, tea and coffee from Aldi and tinned food from Tesco.
They jointly won The Pride of Hyndburn award at the Hyndburn Business Awards earlier this summer, shared with gym owner Mickii Edwards, of the Weight Loss Academy in Oswaldtwistle.