THE Community Pantry at Batchley Support Group is £1,500 better off after B&M stores stepped in to help.
BSG’s Mark Barron came across the retailer’s community fund while browsing the internet.
“I applied to them and they very generously provided us with the equivalent £1,500 to spend in their store,” said Mark.
“We went there on Sunday morning – they opened up the store early just for us and we could literally take a trolley round and take what we wanted, and we spent just over £1,000.”
“It really has boosted our supplies and means that we can carry on giving just that little bit more.”
BSG normally buys food in from the charity Fair Share, but often this is limited by weight.
Mark said the funding from B&M gave them a chance to make real choices about what they could provide.
“It’s very generous of B&M and it’s a very timely donation too.
The staff were absolutely magnificent and went that extra mile for us, in fact I’ll be writing to their head office just to say how helpful they were.
“We want to say a big thank you to I t would be great if you could share this with your readers and send a BIG thank you to their staff, namely store manager Stuart Colyer and Chloe Leach, Karen Chadwick, Sue Smith, Tish Parker-Hughes, and Jacky Cross.
BSG on average supplies around 8,000 bags of food a year to needy people in the area and this year, with the added pressure of the coronavirus pandemic, Mark believes that total could easily breach 12,000.
“Some people have lost their jobs, others are furloughed, people quite rightly are self isolating and can’t get out, so we’re busier than ever,” he said.
The support group also offers counselling and guidance and recently teamed up with the housing department of Redditch Borough Council to help prevent some young people becoming homeless.
For more on Batchley Support Group, call 01527 457291.
