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· Royal Bank of Scotland’s Winter Sparkle festive campaign aims to bring cheer to 10,000 people and families this Christmas
· Bank’s charity partner BaxterStorey is distributing 100,000 meals to the country’s most vulnerable as part of the drive
· Businesses and organisations including The Scottish Book Trust, Tesco and Amazon back the drive
· Social Bite, Cyrenians, The Felix Project and Edinburgh Food Project help take the programme to Scotland’s neediest communities
Royal Bank of Scotland has partnered with hospitality provider BaxterStorey and security company G4S, to distribute more than 10,000 shoeboxes full of toys, books, games, food and items of clothing for vulnerable people and families across Scotland, as part of the bank’s Winter Sparkle initiative.
The shoeboxes – which have been packed in a socially distant setting at the bank’s Gogarburn HQ in Edinburgh – are being given to charity partners Social Bite, Cyrenians, The Felix Project and Edinburgh Food Project, to distribute amongst thousands of individuals and families they support across the country.
Catering company BaxterStorey will also prepare and deliver an additional 100,000 cooked meals for vulnerable families in Scotland, thanks to generous donations of fresh produce from a number of the Royal Bank’s agricultural customers.
Other supporters of the project include the Scottish Book Trust, Tesco and Business in the Community, while employees and customers of the bank have been able to purchase items via a bespoke Amazon wish list.
The shoebox initiative is the latest project from the team behind the foodbank distribution centre at Gogarburn. It was set up in March by bank employee, Sheena Hales, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, to offer charities a space to store large food deliveries. In October, Sheena was awarded a British Empire Medal in recognition of her efforts.
Since opening, the foodbank centre has distributed around 6,000 meals per week, taken in huge donations including 220,000 items of new clothing, and welcomed truckloads of potatoes and carrots – all to be issued by charities to those in need.
Along with donations of food and clothing, the foodbank has also helped furnish a homeless shelter in Glasgow and through a partnership with the Scottish Book Trust, has provided families with learning packs, storybooks and even tablets and Wi-Fi access to support with remote learning.
Sheena Hales, Programme Capability Manager at Royal Bank of Scotland and Manager of the Gogarburn distribution centre, said: “Christmas can always be a challenging time but the events and added pressures of 2020 have undoubtedly created extra stress and anxiety for many families.
“The foodbank has been committed to supporting those in need since the onset of the pandemic and while the food parcels will be essential, it’s also our hope that the little extra treats in the boxes will put a few smiles on faces this festive season.
“Crucially, this has been a team effort and none of it would be possible without the hard work and dedication of our volunteers or the generosity of our staff, customers and strategic partners who have worked tirelessly to make the foodbank what it is”
Caroline Bacigalupo, Operations Manager at BaxterStorey, said: “We are delighted to have been working with local community councils and local charities, supplying a variety of sweet treats and hearty meals.
“This Christmas, we plan to fill over 10,000 boxes for Christmas gifts and food packages to help those in need across Edinburgh and the Lothians.
“With the ongoing support of our team at BaxterStorey, G4S and of course Royal Bank of Scotland, we will be out delivering the packages in the run-up to Christmas.”
Malcolm Buchanan, Chair, Scotland Board, Royal Bank of Scotland said: “The work that our foodbank team has delivered throughout 2020 has been truly admirable and the results achieved reflect the unwavering commitment of our staff, customers and partners, who have all gone above and beyond to support those in their local communities.
“Under Sheena’s leadership, the team have been working behind the scenes to coordinate, manage and store huge deliveries and have all been busy packing up the shoeboxes ready for distribution. Our charity partners will then take the wheel, allocating the boxes to the incredibly deserving individuals and families within their support networks.”
* * Printer will assist the charity in carrying out around 120 deliveries a day **
Scotland’s leading copy-print-scan specialists have donated one of their £3,000 printers to an Edinburgh food bank project. Capital Document Solutions [CDS] have gifted a Ricoh multi-functional printer (MFP) to the Edinburgh Food Project [EFP] to help them meet their demanding schedule.
The company, which deploys around 13,000 print devices to over 4,000 clients across Scotland, were approached by the food bank project as their volunteers prepare for another Covid spike.
EFP is an independent charity, and a member of the Trussell Trust network of food banks, providing emergency food parcels to people living in food poverty.
EFP conducted more than 120 deliveries a day during the height of the pandemic and found using home printers to be inadequate for its extensive workload.
Director of the EFP, Bethany Biggar, said: “Much like any other business we depend on a clear line of communication, and an important tool for this is a printer. Unfortunately, our current printers do not have the capacity to deal with our workload, and we really required an all-singing, all-dancing printer.
“CDS have been extremely helpful and generous in donating one of their state-of-the-art MFPs. As well as providing on-going technical support, it has made a huge difference to our work, and we can’t thank CDS enough for their donation.”
CDS had previously donated a printer to the EFP in September 2018 and Mark Harvie, Corporate Sales Director at CDS, said they were keen to support the group once more.
Mark said: “When we received the call from the EFP, we acted without hesitation. They are doing amazing work, helping so many people at this difficult time.
“We decided to donate the device purely because of what the EFP stands for. We are a firm believer in helping those in need, and we were delighted that we could help them to successfully continue their important work.”
Capital Document Solutions operates from six offices across Scotland – in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, Dundee and Lerwick.
Mark Lazarowicz MP visited Edinburgh Food Project yesterday to meet staff at its new warehouse operation and learn more about how it is helping people who are struggling to put food on the table.
Edinburgh Food Project runs two of Edinburgh’s five Trussell Trust foodbanks covering the North West and Central areas of the city.
The local MP said: “I was extremely impressed by the hard work of all the staff at Edinburgh Food Project who are providing a vital service to people in the community in food poverty.
“People come to their two food banks for a range of reasons, some because of delays in benefit claims or sanctions but there are people as well who are in work but are still struggling to meet ever increasing basic bills.
“The Government refuses to see this for the tragedy it is and whilst I can’t praise the staff highly enough I also hope to see the day when people aren’t forced to turn to food banks.”
Since opening in November 2012 Edinburgh Food Project has fed over 5,500 people in crisis with food packs covering at least three days – the equivalent of 50,000 meals.
As part of the open day they held a ‘Tinned Sponge Pudding Pyramid’ which was built with donations.
For more information about Edinburgh foodbanks go to
http://edinburghnw.foodbank.org.uk
