Member Article

Bristol law firm works with local charities to tackle food poverty

The Bristol office at law firm Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD) has pledged its support to a number of organisations working to tackle food poverty including East Bristol Foodbank and food redistribution charity FareShare South West.

The initiative in Bristol is part of a firm wide effort to fight against hunger in the community with the firm donating £30,000 to UK foodbanks and other food charities in 2020. Some of the donations were made up of personal contributions from WBD staff with the total amount raised matched by WBD’s Charitable Incorporated Trust which manages funds aimed at supporting the firm’s responsible business activity.

WBD worked with FareShare South West last year, part of the UK’s largest food charity FareShare, and signed up to support its emergency winter operation: FoodStock 2020. The campaign aims to build a stockpile of emergency food with the infrastructure to deliver it across the region throughout the winter and in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Staff from across WBD’s Bristol office donated over a hundred hours of volunteering hours, helping to create 520 food parcels.

Jon Bower, partner and head of responsible business at WBD’s Bristol office said: “We pride ourselves on being a good neighbour and, as a successful business, we recognise we have an important role to play in supporting our local communities. The COVID-19 pandemic had brought unprecedented hardship to so many and it was important for us to step up and join forces with foodbanks and other charities working to tackle the very real problem of food poverty in the UK.”

“We’ve all witnessed the fantastic work organisations across the UK are doing to ensure that people who are struggling to make ends meet can continue to put food on the table. Both East Bristol Food Bank and FareShare South West are remarkable examples of what can be achieved when people work together and the community-wide response to the pandemic has been admirable in what was a very difficult 2020.”

Phoebe Ruxton, Head of Development at FareShare South West, says: “Bristol is home to powerful organisations and we are grateful to have had support from a number of the big legal companies in Bristol, including WBD. Need for food support continues to soar, with increasing numbers seeking support - many of whom may never have had to seek food support before. Our frontline partners, who have received our emergency food throughout our FoodStock 2020 operation, have done an amazing job of supporting the most vulnerable during such uncertain times.”

WBD has a long track record of supporting foodbanks in Bristol and, in recent years, donated well over six tonnes of much needed food and drinks through the WBD National Foodbank Appeal, an initiative set up by the firm to support UK foodbanks particularly during the winter and summer holidays. The firm has accelerated its support since the start of the pandemic last March.

WBD is heavily involved in a comprehensive responsible business programme, supporting a number of charities across its eight UK offices. In 2019 the firm won the Contribution to the Community Award at the Bristol Live & Bristol Post Business Awards as well as the Business in the Community Award at the Business Leader Awards.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Womble Bond Dickinson LLP .