Echo team helps South Staffordshire Plc raise £9,000 for local food banks this winter

The Echo team, alongside employees at the other companies within 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 food bank 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 food banks 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 food banks in providing emergency food and support to people in poverty, as well as campaigning for change to end the need for food banks 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 food banks, 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.