Chester Pride Foodbank Collection

Chester Pride’s food bank campaign in aid of the West Cheshire foodbank 2022 launches on Wednesday 5th October, with the goal of beating the number of items donated in 2021, which totalled 4000 items.

With the cost of living increasing the foodbank service is being used more than ever and items of food are desperately needed in order to help families in the Cheshire West region. The foodbank is doing all it can to maintain stock levels but the sad reality is that as soon as donations arrive in the warehouse they are flying back out again, which is why Chester Pride is launching its annual campaign a month earlier than originally planned.

The campaign runs from October 5th to December 15^th 2022, with a number of collection partners such as Chester Pride’s very own café The Rainbow Tea Rooms on Bridge Street, The Liverpool Arms (Northgate Street), Bed Student Rentals (Garden Lane), Mecca Bingo (Brookdale Place), The Victoria (The Cross, Chester), Just Cuts (Northgate Street), That Beer Place (Foregate Street) & Print Works (Commonhall Street). The total number of items donated will be doubled thanks to project partners Bank of America and Bed Student Rentals who alone contributed nearly 1,200 items last year thanks to the generosity of its own staff, student tenants and landlords.  

Items required include long life juices, tinned potatoes, instant mash, instant pasta (mug shots) or instant noodles, sponge puddings, cooking sauces, tinned rice pudding, tinned veg, soups, porridge, UHT milk, cereal, biscuits, chocolate, and personal hygiene products. Can we make a polite reminder that alcohol, tins of baked beans and bags of pasta are not required.

“I’m so pleased that we are able to bring this much needed campaign back this year. We’ve all seen the doom and gloom about cost of living, but the sad reality is, it’s actually happening and we’re seeing this in our own area. To date Chester Pride are close to having raised 10,000 items which have been sent to the West Cheshire Foodbank since we launched this campaign back in 2019. The foodbank does a fantastic job in helping people, but they are bracing themselves for record numbers of people in need which is why we have launched the campaign a month earlier than planned.”

“No person should ever have to choose between eating or heating and the foodbank helps people to do both in these hard times. It saddens me that we have to run a campaign like this, but Chester Pride has a wide platform to help not only our LGBTQ+ community but the wider community; cost of living inflation does not discriminate and sadly may affect everyone at some point, so we are asking people to drop off what they can at any of the above collection points. While there are collection points at supermarkets, our campaign is different thanks to the generosity of Bank of America and Bed Student Rentals who will double the total amount collected, so every single item whether it is a 30p tin of veg or 50p pack of biscuits will really make a difference, and we would like to say a huge thanks in advance for your donations and to the drop-off partners” said WARREN LEE ALLMARK, CHESTER PRIDE CHAIR

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Chester Pride is an LGBTQ+ focused charity established in 2013. They plan and run the annual Chester Pride event that sees around 15,000 people attend the celebration of diversity. They have also expanded their work and throughout the year to provide charitable projects and services to support the LGBTQ+ community. Their flagship service is the Just Ask helpline that offers support on any LGBTQ+ topic or to any LGBTQ+ person, all year round.

The charity is proud to support the West Cheshire foodbank as they know that LGBTQ+ people are more likely to be vulnerable and in need of support from places like the foodbank. They also believe in community and are proud to support other organisations and projects that help a wider community in need of support.