Last July, we set ourselves a target of raising £1,000 to support the Otley Food Bank. A cause that we believe is extremely important, even more so with lockdowns during the pandemic.
We’re delighted to say that we’ve now hit that target!
We’ve achieved this by donating £50 every time our clients and local businesses have recommended our services to someone they know. We’ve also added money when we’ve used local photographers’ images on our website and from the funds raised at our Otley Winter Wonderland.
Our donations provide food parcels for those families who are struggling in our local community.
A big thank you
We’d like to thank every one of our clients and the local businesses who’ve referred a friend, family member or colleague to us and have helped us make these donations. Each referral has meant we’ve donated £50 to the Otley Food Bank.
Otley Food Bank has been running since 2013. They supply food parcels to people in crises; those who find themselves unable to buy enough food for themselves or their families.
To visualise how our donations can help, here’s a breakdown:
- One food parcel equates to around £30 to £50 worth of groceries, depending on the size of the parcel.
- Each food parcel supplies enough food for approximately five days, depending on the size of the family.
Otley Food Bank hands out around 100 food parcels a month. 50 to 60 of these parcels are repeat orders to the same families.
There are some emergency occasions where a family may receive three consecutive parcels in a short space of time. This may happen if their state benefits haven’t come through in time or there is a delay in processing their application which means they have no income to buy food.
So, what’s next?
We’re so pleased to have hit our target, so we’ve decided to set ourselves an even bigger challenge. For the next 12 months we’re aiming to raise £2,000 for Otley Food Bank.
It’s great to see local businesses are helping charities even when they might be struggling themselves, which shows how lucky we are to be based in such a caring community. We want to continue contributing to our community as much as we can.
Why should you recommend us?
You can be confident that anyone you recommend to us will be in safe hands.
As you already have first-hand experience of working with us, you’ll know the tailored service we provide.
But did you also know:
- Thomas was awarded a VouchedFor Top Rated Planner Award in 2020 & 2021, with a score of 4.9 out of 5, following 56 reviews.
- We hold the prestigious Pension Transfer Gold Standard. That means we’ve been recognised as adhering to a strict voluntary code of good practice for providing advice on pension transfers.
Here’s how you can help
Get permission from your friend, family member or work colleagues to introduce them to us (this is very important, please do not recommend someone to us unless you have their permission).
We’ll then contact them to arrange an initial discussion and, if we meet (face to face or online), we’ll then arrange to donate £50.
Otley Food Bank is currently emailing schools in the area, asking if families or children will need any help over the summer holidays.
If you wish to donate items yourself this can easily be done at the collection point located in the Otley Sainsbury’s supermarket. Here are a few that the Food Bank typically runs low on:
- Tinned and instant potatoes
- Tinned meats
- Sugar
- Jam
- Dessert items
- Tinned fruit
Look out for local photos on our blogs, Facebook and Twitter pages. Our local community in Otley is something we are proud to be a part of and we will continue to support it as much as we can during these uncertain times.
