It has been reported that food banks are forecast to give out six emergency food parcels a minute this winter . As we enter the winter months, Vistry Homes, which brings together Linden Homes and Bovis Homes, has made a £500 donation to the local Meon Valley Foodbank to help with this expected need.
The Meon Valley Foodbank are a church lead group, focused on helping those most vulnerable in their community. Established in 2015, the foodbank has now helped over 3000 adults, children and families who have found themselves at crisis point. Having recently partnered with the local Sainsbury’s in Bishops Waltham as their food donation partner, Meon Valley foodbank continues to work through the increasing demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Fiona Creed, Sales and Marketing Director for Vistry Southern said: “We are always looking at ways we can provide support to our local communities. At a time like this we felt supporting the Meon Valley Foodbank was a direct way to make a difference to some of the families locally who may be struggling due to implications from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As we leave behind this second lockdown and approach Christmas, we hope the donation will make a positive difference to the increasing numbers of people who need the support and will provide some relief through what is a difficult time for many.”
Mike Salter, Chairman of the Meon Valley Foodbank said: “It really has been a very strange year. When the restrictions on our lives were first introduced, donations of food stopped almost overnight particularly as one of our main sources has always been local churches whose doors were shut. The call on our service as you would imagine rapidly increased and we had to change our methods of operation introducing an on-line referral form.
“We now supply food to 10 to 12 families each week. Pre-Covid we were helping up to four or five families each week. With the tier system now coming into play we are preparing ourselves for further surges in demand and have started to look at how to support vulnerable families over the Christmas period including helping schools with children who normally receive free school meals.”
The leading housebuilder is currently developing a collection of 1 & 2 bedroom apartments and 2, 3 & 4 bedroom houses in the village of Whiteley at the Whiteley Meadows development. With homes available through Help to Buy*, Home Exchange† and Smooth Move‡, call the team to find out more information about the homes visit: bovishomes.co.uk.
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Media can contact Amber Chapman/Harriet Hayes for more information, images and interviews with Vistry on 01962 893 893 or amber.chapman@becg.com / harriet.hayes@becg.com
