Mercedes-Benz offer support to The Food Bank
With summer drawing to a close and the countryside beginning to look more and more autumnal, the season of ‘giving’ has begun. Harvest Festival is traditionally a time where schools and churches collect food for those in need. Local charity The Food Bank and Mercedes-Benz UK, which is also based in the City, is appealing to Milton Keynes residents to help local people living on the edge of poverty by donating food at a collection event being held on Friday 1 and Saturday 2 October in Midsummer Place Shopping Centre, Milton Keynes.
The Food Bank is a simple system of collection, collation and distribution of food items to people thrown into genuine crisis through unexpected events such as bereavement, illness, redundancy or theft. The charity helps by covering the days or sometimes weeks before other parts of the social care infrastructure can come into play.
Mercedes-Benz UK has been supporting the charity since December 2009 and hold twice yearly collection at the company’s headquarters in Tongwell. In March 2010 the company also supplied a used Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 311 CDI to allow the distribution of essential food items to be widened to the outskirts of Milton Keynes.
A Mercedes-Benz Vito will be used as an unusual collection point at the event for the many food items required by The Food Bank. A team of staff volunteers from Mercedes-Benz UK will be helping over the two days to support the charity.
Anyone who makes a food donation during the event can enter a free competition with the chance to win a Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG model car.
Steve Bridge, Van Sales and Marketing Director said: “Mercedes-Benz UK and its staff are delighted to offer support to such an important local charity as The Food Bank. We hope the Food Collection campaign being held in Midsummer Place Shopping Centre will help further spread the word of the important work the charity carries out and how Milton Keynes residents can easily show their support.”
The Food Bank is also asking local schools, churches and companies to hold their own Harvest Festival food collections to help local people in need. Harvest Festival is taking place over the next six weeks and is a key time for The Food Bank. Last year a number of schools and churches held Harvest Festival collections for the charity, collecting essential food items such as tinned and dried produce. This helped the charity to continue to meet the increasing demand for food from local people over the winter months.
The Food Bank relies entirely on the generosity of school children, church-goers, local businesses and regular food donators, along with some grant funding to provide the donations of food and money needed to run the important service.
For more information of how to set up a Harvest Festival Food Collection in local schools, churches, places of work, local pubs or social clubs, please visit mkfoodbank.org.uk.
Harvest Festival however, is not the only time people can help make a difference in the local community. By donating just £3 per month, Milton Keynes residents can help The Food Bank to cover their annual running costs and secure their long term future.
The Food Bank has been fortunate that the Milton Keynes Community Foundation provided a three year development grant in 2008 to fund the recruitment of a Project Manager in order to develop the charity’s service. This funding however runs out in June 2011. The charity’s storage warehouse is also subsidised by the Community Foundation, however can’t be paid for in cans of food, so the charity is appealing to Milton Keynes residents to make small regular donations that that will help make a big difference.
To find out more about The Food Bank’s ‘1000 appeal’ visit mkfoodbank.org.uk or alternatively register a £3 a month donation at justgiving.com/thefoodbank/donate.
