Derby County join forces with Central England Co-op to help boost local community during uncertain times
Posted by rob smyth | Published: 04/05/2020
A scheme designed to provide emergency parcels for vulnerable people across Derby has been given a helping handed by Derby County.
Staff from the club’s trust have been working with Central England Co-op to deliver food and vital essentials to people from a specially created hub at the retailer’s Littleover store, in Burton Road.
Derby City Council identify vulnerable community members, gather orders and pass them onto the store.
Central England Co-op colleagues then create a package and take payment from the customer over the phone before staff from Derby County Community Trust deliver the goods.
Tanya Noon, Member and Community Relations Officer for Central England Co-op, is managing the project.
She said: “We want to say a big thank you to Derby County Community Trust for supporting this vital project.
“We are working around the clock to help people in need and urge anyone who thinks we could help them to get in touch with the council as soon as possible.”
The community hub in Derby is one of four currently in operation – the others being in Lichfield, Stafford and Burton. In total, they have helped over 650 people in just four weeks.
Plans are currently in place to see the project rolled out to other areas in the coming weeks.
Simon Carnall, Derby County Community Trust’s Head of Community, said: “We are delighted that Derby County Football Club and Derby County Community Trust can support the vital relief effort going on across the city through the food drop-off point at Pride Park and now through mobilising staff to help the delivery of essential packages to those unable to collect them in conjunction with Central England Co-op.
“As always, we are determined to help make a difference to our local community and these are times where everyone is pulling together, which is great to see.”
To find out more about the Derby project, visit www.derby.gov.uk/coronavirus
Notes to editors
Picture caption: Tanya Noon, from Central England Co-op, is working closely with Derby County Community Trust.
About Central England Co-operative
Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK with interests in food, funeral, floral, travel and property investment.
Co-operatives have always been there for their communities; they were formed to protect them and help them flourish.
Our 7,900 colleagues who serve Members and customers work hard to ensure that co-operative values, principles and spirit flow through everything we do to help support and improve our local communities.
Owned by hundreds of thousands of Members, we have over 430 trading outlets across 16 counties including West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
We are proud of our reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.
We invest a percentage of our trading profit into local communities through our Community Dividend Fund scheme, have donated over £1.3 million to our corporate charity partner Dementia UK and also operate a pioneering food redistribution partnership with FareShare Midlands so unsold food goes to those in need.
Visit www.centralengland.coop for more information or follow us on Facebook or Twitter using @mycoopfood
Press office contacts: Rob Smyth and James Brindle
Phone - 01543 421390
Email - publicrelations@centralengland.coop