Dream Doors couple are national Covid heroes
Kitchen firm owners win award for helping West Berks Foodbank in Covid crisis
THE owners of a kitchen makeover company have won a national community award after they collected more than 45,000 meals for West Berks Foodbank.
Adrian and Lesley Wallace, from Dream Doors Basingstoke and Newbury, were named Community Champion of the Year at the kbbreview Retail and Design Awards, held at Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral and hosted by Joel Dommett.
The pair transformed their kitchen showroom into a socially-distanced facility for people to donate food to the West Berks Foodbank after the UK was plunged into a national lockdown in March 2020 at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
They became the catalyst for the community, encouraging and galvanising people of all ages to come together for their charitable movement ‘Foodbank on your doorstep’.
Almost instantly, their showroom was filling up with donations from people who wanted to help during the height of the crisis.
Speaking after the awards ceremony, Mrs Wallace said: “At the start of the pandemic, there were so many people who wanted to do something to help – this was a way to contribute.
“Within 11 days, we had donated a total of 1,847 items, including tins of food, 30kg of sugar, jars of coffee and over 600 nappies.
“We found people were going to
the local shop and filling their cars with items needed by the foodbank.”
Donations continued to flood in at the showroom, located on Chap
el Street in Thatcham, and by the end of April 2020, 40 volunteers had signed up to help, covering 250 streets across the region.
Continued