Chester Pride Food Bank Campaign

Chester pride is pleased to announce that a total of 2,022 items have been collected via their Reverse Advent Calendar campaign in aid of The West Cheshire Foodbank.

This is the second year the Reverse Advent Calendar campaign has been run and Chester Pride are pleased to report that despite a global pandemic they were able to beat last year’s total number of items donated. What is more, the 2,022 items will be doubled thanks to generous match funding from Chester Pride’s Foodbank Sponsor Bank of America, who joined this year’s campaign to further help make a positive impact to Chester and the local areas.

Warren Lee Allmark, Chair of Chester Pride said “The Reverse Advent Calendar is a campaign very close to my heart after learning a friend of mine has had to use this service in the past. I toowas in a bad situation 8 years ago and used the foodbank to help on a couple of occasions, so I know only too well its importance to people and its ability to help feed those in need. Whilst it is sad that we still need foodbanks in 2020, the reality is they will be a much-needed service for years to come, so its important for me and the committee that Chester Pride uses its platform in the city and wider area to help others out where possible.

Our heartfelt thanks go out to all the fantastic people who have donated and given what they can. I also have to say a huge thank you to the following donation stations MeccaBingo, Chester Market, The Liverpool Arms, Just Cuts, GHR Training Services, Riverside Car & Van Hire, Bed Student Rentals, Printworks Chester, and Oddfellows Arms Chester. During the English lockdown, ABC Taxis were a crucial partner in continuing to collect items for free from people’s doorsteps. I also want to say a heartfelt thanks to Bank of America for joining this year’s campaign and doubling the items collected to a huge 4,044 itemsthat we are able to send on to the West Cheshire Foodbank,which will truly help people in the Chester and Cheshire West region”

Iwona Szmidt, Global Head of FX Operations and Chester Market Leader at Bank of America:

“The Reverse Advent Calendar food bank activity is an excellent community campaign, supporting those in need this season. Food insecurity is increasingly an issue for many, and as a long-term supporter and partner of Chester Pride, we are delighted to collaborate with the team on this important initiative.”

Lindsay from West Cheshire Foodbank said, “We received a wonderful Christmas present of nearly 700kg of donated food at our warehouse from our great friends at Chester Pride. They have been longstanding supporters of our work in the area and ran a reverse advent campaign with the help of local businesses and matching support of Bank of America. This achievement is even more remarkable given that their plans were disrupted by the November lockdown.

In recent months, our Foodbank has experienced a substantial year on year increase in the number of emergency food parcels issued to local people in financial crisis. A more worrying feature has been a much higher increase in support to families/children. No one, least of all children, should be going hungry in our country. This all makes your fantastic donation even more timely as we prepare as best we can for a further winter surge in demand.

Thank you so much!”