South Staffordshire Plc team raise £9,000 for The Trussell Trust and local independent food banks

Almost £3,000 has been raised by the Group’s employees and the donation has been tripled to £9,000 by the business, South Staffordshire Plc.

Employees at Walsall-based utility services group, South Staffordshire Plc, have been raising money for The Trussell Trust and other local independent food banks and are donating £9,000 to support their valuable work throughout the winter.

This winter, it is expected that someone in the UK will need an emergency food parcel from a foodbank every nine seconds, which is a 61% increase on last year. In light of the pandemic, and the negative effects lockdown and other restrictions have had on food donations, the team at South Staffordshire Plc decided to make it its mission to help fund foodbanks and emergency food parcels by setting up a Just Giving page.

Employees at the Group, which includes regulated water companies South Staffs Water and Cambridge Water, essential infrastructure services business SSI, customer service and technology specialist Echo Managed Services, and Office Water Coolers, have donated £2,890, plus £671.25 in Gift Aid, through the Just Giving page, and the money has been double matched by South Staffordshire Plc, bringing the overall donation to a total £9,000.

The Trussell Trust supports a nationwide network of foodbanks in providing emergency food and support to people in poverty, as well as campaigning for change to end the need for foodbanks in the UK. The organisation also provides a minimum of three days’ nutritionally balanced emergency food to people who have been referred in crisis and supports people in resolving the crises they face.

In March 2020, The Trussell Trust reported that its network of foodbanks, which is in excess of 1,200 around the country, provided 1.9 million food supplies to people in crisis, an 18% rise on the previous year.

Phil Newland, group CEO at South Staffordshire Plc, commented:

“This winter is going to be incredibly difficult for many people, and we are really proud to be supporting The Trussell Trust and a range of local independent foodbanks in the excellent work they do to support some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. Our employees can be really proud of their fundraising efforts, something we as a business wanted to recognise and support. We hope our donations will go some way towards making a real difference to members of our community and hopefully make their winter a little easier.”