Gressingham Foods donates 320 turkey crowns to support families in need over Christmas
Gressingham Foods has donated 320 turkey crowns to a number of local food banks, to support families in need this Christmas.
Gressingham made the generous donations across four vital food banks in the region – Suffolk Food and Drink Fund in Halesworth, Access Community Trust in Lowestoft, Halesworth Volunteer Centre and FIND in Ipswich.
Each food bank is a key resource for the communities they serve, depending heavily both on local volunteers and the generosity of the communities around them to keep supporting people.
Maureen Reynel MBE, who is the founder of FIND in Ipswich commented: Christmas is our busiest time of year – in fact, it’s busier than ever before this year! People are really struggling. It can be very sad – as many of those who come to us feel under pressure to spend what little money they have on gifts for family or children, often leaving them with nothing for food or bills.
‘Our service is vital – we provide a whole range of support. There are so many challenges for families at the moment – Covid, employment and benefit issues as well as the rising cost of food and utility bills.
‘When you turn up with a turkey at Christmas, it’s quite an emotional experience. The donations really do mean a lot to those in need – Gressingham has been fantastic.’
Emma Ratzer MBE, CEO Access Community Trust in Lowestoft, who also received a donation of turkey crowns, said: ‘Access Community Trust is extremely grateful to Mr Buchanan and the team at Gressingham Duck, for donating a number of fresh turkey crowns to our charity in the lead up to the festive period.
‘With many local families continuing to struggle to make ends meet, this kind gesture helps us to provide a number of free Christmas day meal kits for local families with young children that we support’.
Emma Healey, centre manager at Halesworth Volunteer Centre said: ‘We want to give many thanks to the kindness of the team at Gressingham Duck as many people in Halesworth and the surrounding rural villages are going to have a much happier Christmas.
‘We will be delivering a hot meal including these delicious Gressingham turkeys to people who are alone at Christmas. For many it is their second year alone in a row.
‘We will also be ensuring that some of the families who use our Community Larder can enjoy a proper cooked meal on Christmas Day too as these are often families who are struggling financially as a result of the Pandemic.’
William Buchanan, MD at Gressingham Duck says: ‘We know what an incredibly difficult time it’s been for our local communities and the local economy as we continue to recover from the impact of the pandemic, many are still struggling to make ends meet.
‘No one should go hungry at Christmas, so we wanted to do something that would make a real difference to people over the festive season.”
Food poverty is a growing issue in the UK which has been accelerated by the Covid 19 pandemic, significantly impacting families across the UK. Nationwide research by the Government’s latest Family Resources Survey shows that 5 million people lived in food poverty between 2019 – 2020.
In 2020, this was 8% of the population, but data from The Food Foundation suggests food insecurity levels rose to 9% of the population in January 2021.
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