Wholesaler boosting food banks with special deliveries
A north Wales food wholesaler is ramping up aid to struggling families in Shropshire with three mercy missions a week.
Harlech Foodservice have sent 10 truckloads of supplies worth £60,000, including bread, eggs and dairy products and even salmon and steak in the last two weeks.
Their latest drops to food banks in Telford and Newport included 180 boxes of bread, over 10,000 eggs, 79 trays of yoghurts and 98 catering-size cooking sauces as well as bread roll and sponge cake mix.
Ten of the company’s fleet of delivery vans are now busy keeping food banks stocked up in Telford and Newport in Shropshire as well as at Pwllheli, Colwyn Bay, Northwich and Winsford in Cheshire.
Harlech’s digital project manager Ceri Brown works with the team to coordinate the supply chain.
She said: “Lockdowns have of course resulted in excess stock with last minute Government decisions resulting in additional wasted stock bought in to satisfy school contracts.
“We had to be prepared for the new school term in January but of course when schools were closed we were left with a huge amount of food which we needed to use.
“We are working closely with some incredible organisations to help people hit hardest by the pandemic and we wanted to share it out across our area of operation.
“As the lockdowns continue, it’s a real struggle for our purchasing team managing stock levels, ensuring we have enough stock to meet demand for those customers that are open, but not over buying.”
Grateful
Among those they supply is the Telford Food Share Project in Shropshire where project founder Lea Beven said: “We’re really grateful to Harlech who make such a huge contribution to our efforts.
“We are subsidising between 100 and 200 families a day.
"Not all of them are in absolute crisis but many are struggling and would not be able to make ends meet without us.
“Without us the town just wouldn’t manage. It’s been absolutely vital that we are here because there’s no let up at all now that we are in the middle of winter.”
Care homes, which have been hit hardest by the pandemic, are also being supplied and Ceri added: “We are looking for some more places to deliver to, especially those that can take chilled and frozen food and food approaching it’s best-before date. Not every food bank takes that so we are also keen to hear from those that do.”
For more on Harlech Foodservice go to www.harlech.co.uk
