Thames Valley and Solent Business Development teams join forces in support of ReadiFood

As the combined team looked to book in their festive lunch, they thought why not give back to the local community first- it is Christmas time after all!

ReadiFood is run by Faith Christian Group. They have provided an Emergency Food Parcel Service in Reading for over 25 years. They currently deliver over 140 Emergency Food Parcels every week to families and individuals across the greater Reading area.

Working off those mince pies, the 13 strong volunteers took part in the following activities at the local foodbank:

• Food sorting - checking dates and types of products
• Assisting with food parcel deliveries 

Making the event have a larger office contribution, the team asked the entire office if they could all spare any donations prior to the day- the office listened and contributed greatly- the team then took along all the hampers with them.

We would actively encourage all teams, to look locally near them, for going in for a day to volunteer in nearby foodbank to aid sorting and packing.  This provides a fun, team-building opportunity for staff, away from the computer monitors and really help out a struggling locally charity, especially during festive periods where families rely more heavily on food packages coming through.

Please see below pictures of them taking part and the donations they were able to take along with them.

Alison Peyton, Foodbank Manager at ReadiFood said:

“Having the Corporate help at the foodbank gives a dual opportunity. The extra pairs of hands means that we can cover bigger jobs more quickly. A team of people over a few hours are able to sort and check a large amount of food, which leaves our regular volunteers able to focus on making the food parcels and more direct help to clients.

Checking the food is a crucial job in making sure we have the food readily available to be included in the food parcels, it contributes to the responsible stewardship of the donated food, making sure it is all used appropriately.

The second opportunity is to engage with the wider community enabling discussions on how and why foodbanks are operating and the need in society that we meet. Discussions around the need and current pressures in our society, can hopefully lead to better understanding of those that need assistance from the foodbank and possibly how we can all contribute to assistance.”