Packaging giant donates ‘Hampers for Heroes’ over Christmas
A Nottingham-based food packaging giant swapped client gifts for community cohesion this Christmas and embarked upon a mammoth task – to hand deliver over 300 hampers to local Covid19 heroes, and to those most in need.
The Wilkins Group usually creates sustainable gifts for its clients during the festive season, to demonstrate its eco-friendly approach to food packaging. However, after talking to clients, company bosses decided to donate a whopping 344 Christmas hampers to people who deserve them most.
The hampers – containing items such as crackers, chocolate selection boxes, Christmas cake, shortbread, and Christmas pudding, mince pies, tissues, chocolate coins – were all hand delivered on Thursday, December 17 to local care homes and to Hope Nottingham, which provides foodbank support to residents throughout the county.
The Wilkins Group sales and marketing director Justin Wilkins said: “Each year we like to demonstrate clever packaging design to our clients at Christmas. Last year, we gave out over 300 grow-your-own Christmas trees in display boxes. This year has been one that we will all never forget, and we are keen to do our bit locally. We were keen to help those who have gone above and beyond for others during the pandemic, and those who need the support the most.”
He added: “Our team along with some of our customers all pulled together to create the 344 hampers and spent a full day on Thursday delivering them. We were overwhelmed with the response we received.”
Sebastian Bonicel was there at the first drop off at Hope Nottingham. He said: “These hampers will go to help people who really need them. The Mayor is coming later today to distribute some of the parcels, and it is great to see a company like The Wilkins Group go to such effort. It is fantastic and we are very grateful.”
One of the main recipients of the hampers was The Trussell Trust, which supports a nationwide network of food banks, and provide emergency food and support to people locked in poverty. The charity operates foodbanks situated locally to the headquarters of The Wilkins Group in Nottingham.
In the UK, more than 14 million people, including 4.5 million children, are living in poverty. The Trussell Trust supports more than 1,200 food bank centres in the UK to provide a minimum of three days’ nutritionally balanced emergency food to people who have been referred to them in a crisis.
The Wilkins Group has more than 500 staff across five sites around the world, running factories in Sri Lanka, Romania, China, and Bangladesh. Its site in Nottingham produces food packaging for the UK’s leading supermarkets.