We are delighted to have won the Best Business category in Matt Western MP Community Awards last month, however it truly was a community effort rather than solely an Aubrey Allen initiative.
For a number of years we have been providing The Leamington Winter Support Night Shelter with around 100 weekly cooked meals to help feed the vulnerable and homeless in the area.
Once the pandemic hit and the homeless were placed in temporary accommodation, their need increased dramatically.
Helping Hands also got in touch as they were being inundated with requests for help from vulnerable families, the elderly who were shielding as well as the women from local domestic violence refuges who had to be re-homed. Many of the normal channels had shut down as a number of the volunteers were elderly and had to shield.
Our Managing Director, Russell Allen, put out an appeal for help and Sarah Taylor-Watts, a long standing shop customer, came forward. Between them a plan was coordinated to enlist the support of local hospitality venues who had been forced to close as well as all hands on deck to start cooking.
Every week Aubrey Allen provided the volunteers with meat and vegetables and in a very short time we had a team of chefs cooking up to 1600 meals a week, providing nourishing meals to those who really needed them.
In no particular order we are very grateful to The Moorings at Myton, The New Bowling Green in Warwick, The Star and Garter, Warwick School and Lime Recruitment at Oken’s Kitchen who, week in week out, provided the charities with fantastic home cooked food for our communities most vulnerable.
We continue to cook meals each week and support the Star and Garter and Lime Recruitment with produce as they also continue to provide meals.
If you are minded to want to help these charities, please visit Leamington Winter Support and Helping Hands to find out what help they may need.
They were here before the pandemic, they were here during, and they will be here in the future and they need your support more than ever.
