Addressing food poverty at the Feast of Fun

We spoke to our Assistant Management Accountant, Ben Townsend on what he got up to when he used his CSR Day to help out a local charity initiative, here is what he had to say:

" I love volunteering in my local community and thanks to our CSR Day benefit, I was able to jump at the chance to take part in the Feast of Fun through my local church in Plymouth." 

What is the Feast of Fun?

"Transforming Plymouth Together launched this summer’s Feast of Fun project in partnership with a network of local churches, to provide food hampers, games and support to families in need during the summer holidays. This summer, Hope Baptist aims to support 20 families referred by local primary schools. During 2020 and since the beginning of 2021, the wider project has provided nearly 300 parcels each week to support the estimated 11,500 children in Plymouth living in poverty.

Throughout the school holiday there are three feast dates at Hope Baptist. At each event a group of volunteers will welcome the families, provide a free lunch, activities for the children, and a food hamper to take home. I have volunteered to support two of the feast days."

What happened on the day?

"The day began with packing up the food hampers (which beats a good gym session any day!) with fresh fruit and veg, milk, butter and eggs along with plenty of long-life essentials. Overall, we packed 20 hampers, some of which were delivered directly to the families who couldn’t make it on the day.

"When the families arrived, we ventured across the road to the beautiful Central Park to enjoy the picnic lunch. We played some games with the children which gave some of the volunteers a chance to chat to parents about how Hope Baptist could help with longer term support.

"The parachute came out, along with some mini frisbees which went down very well! I then led a couple ‘Olympic’ themed games including hockey, sprint and relay races. After all the fun we cooled down with some delicious ice creams."

Building stronger links

"It was great to see the families enjoying themselves, build stronger links within the community, and contribute to the great work that Transforming Plymouth Together is doing to address food poverty in the city.

"I am so pleased to have been able to use my CSR Days to contribute to my local community and would highly recommend making use of your CSR Days and opportunities in your local area."

Volunteering at Foot Anstey

Our CSR Days are available to all employees and we encourage our partners and employees to be active participants, supporting local communities based near our office locations. Everyone in he business is entitled to two additional days of paid leave as CSR Days to volunteer.

To see all of our latest vacancies visit our careers page, or find out more about how we support local communities here.