St Nicholas Church is in the Parish of Canvey Island and is part of the Diocese of Chelmsford and located a few miles from TotalWM’s main site in Basildon, Essex. Since 2019 it has been providing a local pop-up food bank service to support the wider community and Canvey Island Food Bank.

TotalWM’s onsite caretaker, Steve, had been volunteering at the food bank for a number of years but his extracurricular service had gone unnoticed until a member of the senior management team asked him to modify his working hours at the Basildon site to better suit the needs of the business, which he struggled to agree to because of his commitment at the food bank.

As soon TotalWM were aware of Steve’s out of hours commitments they seized upon the opportunity to assist and staff at the Basildon site were asked to set aside a few bits from home that they no longer required.  With the addition of a cash donation one of the Directors purchased a series of non-perishable foods, blankets, hot water bottles and other items such as baby wipes, baby food etc that would help the wider community including the elderly and the more vulnerable in society.

The costs of the donations have thus far equated to just over £750 with more in the pipeline due to be delivered imminently. With Steve now being the link between TotalWM and the local pop-up food bank (and back on his original contracted hours) it is hoped that he will continue to coordinate the donations in to the future, including ascertaining what is required by the charity and what TotalWM can do more effectively to assist.

On receipt of the initial donation the Reverend Marion Walford, Vicar of the Parish of Canvey Island wrote to all at TWM thanking them for their support to the local community in this way, adding that “this [donation] is making a difference in the lives of people you may never meet”.

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