The UK’s community bank, Metro Bank, gives every colleague a Day to Amaze – essentially a paid day off to support a local charity or good cause. Metro Bank colleagues from its cash management team recently spent their Day to Amaze volunteering at the Euston Foodbank.
The Euston Foodbank is part of the Trussell Trust. The foodbank aims to redistribute food to people with no or insufficient food so that they can cope with their immediate situation. The Euston Foodbank is right next to a mainline station in central London with good local transport connections, so a range of people visit including those on low incomes, families, people facing benefit delays, people experiencing emergencies and crises and homeless people.
Ten Metro Bank colleagues spent their time preparing the Foodbank for opening that evening. The tasks included unloading bulk deliveries, and sorting out storage of daily donations received from supermarkets, local businesses and residents. The team also sorted cold and fresh produce deliveries into the fridge area, whilst disposing of out of date produce and recycling the cardboard boxes. The team also donated £140 to help with the weekly top up required.
“Helena, the foodbank manager was enormously informative. Before the pandemic the Euston Foodbank served approximately 80 households per week, this has now risen to over 500 households and rising. The foodbank used to be able to supplement donations by spending approximately £200 per week to top up the food supplies, but with donations dropping off and demand rising, this has now increased to over £2,000 per week,” commented Karen Dwyer, Metro Bank Cash Manager. “There are now more foodbanks in the UK than McDonalds fast food outlets”.
“As a team we found the whole experience very humbling. The Foodbank is making such an essential difference to families and other local people in need. We were glad to be able to help in such a small way and will be encouraging more colleagues to donate their time to help”.
Helena Morris, Manager, Euston Foodbank said, “”Euston foodbank would like to thank Metro Bank for their on-going support. They have been amazing volunteers and have arranged collections for us. Their contribution has made a real difference to the foodbank, allowing us to continue to support some of the most vulnerable people in and around Euston.”
