Lichfield and Tamworth Food Banks get boost from Central England Co-op headquarters stock donation

Posted by james brindle | Published: 06/04/2020

A Lichfield-based retailer has helped support local food banks as they continue to see a rise in demand with a donation of hundreds of items of stock from their headquarters in the city.

Lichfield Food Bank and Tamworth Food Bank were delighted to receive items including tinned vegetables, pasta and sweet treats which were being stored at Central England Co-op’s base in Hermes Road.

The stock came from the retailer’s ‘Mock shop’ which its Product and Category team uses to test out new products and displays ahead of their potential introduction into its 240 food stores across 16 counties.

Due to the current situation this ‘Mock shop’ is not currently in use and with the urgent need for food and essentials expressed by food banks, Central England Co-op was keen to utilise this stock to support the local community.

James Knight, Member and Community Relations Officer at Central England Co-op, helped to organise the donation.

He said: “In these testing times where our communities are in the greatest need of support, we are happy to co-operate with our local food banks in this way to help boost their supply.

“We are proud to be based in Lichfield and it is important to us to support the community where we can, and having recently opened a new store in Brooklime Way, Tamworth, this was a good opportunity to support the food bank in Tamworth as well.

“This donation is on top of the urgent food appeal which we launched a fortnight ago where we have encouraged our Members and customers to drop an extra item or two in to our in store collection points to support local food banks as they face a surge in demand but a drop in donations.”

David Clarke, Chair of Lichfield Food Bank, said all donations were welcome during these challenging times and thanked Central England Co-op for its support.

He said: “Here at Lichfield Food Bank, we very much appreciate all of the support we get from Central England Co-op, both the customers and the organisation itself. We have been very busy in the last fortnight and anticipate that continuing for some weeks yet. Our current two most needed items are tinned fruit and tinned meat.”

If you can support the retailer’s urgent food bank appeal, items can be dropped off at special collection points at all Central England Co-op Food stores, including those at Boley Park and Curborough Road in Lichfield and at Brooklime Way in Tamworth.

People can keep up to date with what is happening in their local community by visiting a dedicated online hub at www.centralengland.coop/updates

Notes to editors

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 serving our 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