Packed lunches for school reaches major milestone
A WOODHOUSE EAVES businesswoman has hit a massive milestone in helping the local community.
Jo Pole decided to help out during the lockdown by providing packed lunches to local youngsters and people who might be in need.
She employs 22 people at Dazzlers Cleaning Services but, unable to carry out their normal work and with her team at home on furlough, she dipped into her own pocket to buy ingedients to provide local children and parents who might be struggling with packed lunches.
The team’s trial day at the beginning of May saw 40 lunches distributed next to Great Central Railway in Loughborough, with leftovers donated to The Exaireo homeless trust.
As a result of the initial success Jo was in touch with Beacon Academy and after liaising with the Academy’s Caroline Stretton, committed to providing 108 lunches twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays for chilldren still attending school and their siblings.
And she has now revealed that last Friday (June 12) they reached a major milestone proving their 1,000th packed lunch for Beacon Academy.
“It is fantastic we have reached such a milestone. Special thanks for helping the project to Merrin Pearce, Zoe and Justin Hewlett, Baby Style, Spar Woodhouse for the massive amounts of bread donated, Claire and Georgina Brooks and Georgina Glyn.”
Some of Jo’s staff at her cleaning company, Dazzlers Cleaning Services, are now off furlough and have returned to work, but Jo is determined to keep the free lunches going for as long as possible.
She said: “We have had fantastic support with cash donations of £700 and at least £500 worth of food provided for the project. At the moment we have enough resources to keep going for another two weeks, but if we get more help with cash or food donations the team is happy to continue as long as it can.”