Travel Chapter’s National Food Bank Drive
At Travel Chapter, one of our core goals is to ‘do the right thing’ and one of the ways we do this is by making positive contributions through charitable donations and raising awareness of the charities that have areal impact in our local communities.
Following on from our fundraising for Cancer Research UK, from October 2024 onwards, we will be embarking on a new endeavour, something we have named our ‘National Food Bank Drive’. This initiative consists of two charitable elements: fundraising for our Charity of the Year, Trussell (formerly known as The Trussell Trust) on a national level, and providing support to local food banks near our offices through volunteering and food donations.
Who is Trussell?
Trussell is an anti-poverty charity that supports a nationwide network of food banks. They provide emergency food and support to people who are trapped in poverty and advocate for change to eliminate the need for food banks in the UK.
More than 14 million people in the UK live below the poverty line, and one in seven people in the UK are facing hunger. But it takes more than food to end hunger, so they are on a mission to challenge the structural issues that lock people in poverty, and campaign for change.
The money we raise will be going towards funding these campaigns and important research to help Trussell reach their goal of ending the need for food banks. If you wish to donate, you can find our fundraising page here.
Supporting our local food banks
Last year, Trussell distributed parcels from 1,699 locations across the UK. Additionally, there are at least 1,172 independent food banks, not including the thousands of other food aid providers such as soup kitchens and social supermarkets. These numbers highlight the scale of the issue and emphasise the importance of supporting not only Trussell, but also our local food banks, shares, and pantries through our National Food Bank Drive.
Over the next 12 months, we will be encouraging our staff to support their nearest food banks either by volunteering their time as part of their allocated volunteer day, or utilising our offices as donation stations.
We begin with our November fitness challenge when as many of us as possible will pledge to walk/run/swim/cycle/row 3.1 miles every day of November, to help us raise vital funds and awareness. The significance of this number is that, last year, morethan 3.1 million emergency food parcels were distributed by Trussell food banks. This number is a stark reminder of the number of people who rely on emergency food and are trapped in poverty in the UK.
Sophie Carre, Director of Public Engagement at Trussell, said: “Thank you to Travel Chapter for supporting Trussell. Between April 2023 and March 2024, food banks in Trussell's UK-wide community distributed more than 3.1 million emergency food parcels to people facing hardship – this is an increase of 94% over the past five years. More than 1.1million of these parcels were distributed for children.
"Food bank teams are working tirelessly to help people unable to afford the essentials and thanks to the generosity of supporters like Travel Chapter, they can continue to provide vital emergency support in their communities, while we work together to end the need for foodbanks in the UK. Thank you.”
