A TEAM of ten from Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce and Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber Training went to the Halo Centre to help pack food to be delivered to a network of food banks across the city.
The team at the Chamber packed thousands of items to help make recipe bags for a chilli con carne meal including stock cubes, tinned mince beef and tomatoes that will distributed to families in Coventry.
Operator Feed the Hungry, in partnership with Coventry City Council and Groundwork, will pack and deliver 2,000 food hampers for the Christmas holidays under the council’s HAF (Holiday and Activity Fund) programme.
The parcels, which include kitchen cupboard essentials and fresh fruit and vegetables, will also teach children invaluable, life-long cooking skills and enable families to come together to prepare and enjoy food during the festive season.
As well as packing food, the Halo Centre also offers business conferencing space to help create revenue to further support the effort to feed more people in need.
Sophie Brew, from the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “We were all very proud to support the efforts to help ensure people across Coventry don’t go hungry.
“We all enjoyed the experience and it got quite competitive between a men’s and a women’s team but we also knew the seriousness of what we were doing and the impact it will make.”
The link-up came about when the Coventry Foodbank team met a Chamber member during a networking event.
More of the team wanted to join the group but were unable to because of Covid-19 restrictions.
Coventry Foodbank, operated by Feed The Hungry UK, will have fed more than 20,000 people across the city by the end of 2021.
Gavin Kibble, regional director for Feed The Hungry UK, said support from companies across Coventry was vital in ensuring that positive work can continue.
“It was great to have the Chamber of Commerce team on-site helping us to pack food that will be sent out to children and families locally this Christmas.
“The support of local businesses is vital to the running of our charity and we were delighted that the Chamber wanted to support us and share the work that we do across the business community in Coventry and Warwickshire.”
Visit feedthehungry.org.uk/volunteering/ or email [email protected] for more information.
