SEGRO partnership helps City Harvest support more vulnerable Londoners
SEGRO, a leading owner, manager and developer of modern warehouses and light industrial workspace, has provided two warehouses in kind to food redistribution charity, City Harvest, enabling it to help thousands more vulnerable Londoners urgently in need of food. City Harvest collects surplus food from all segments of the food industry and delivers high quality, nourishing food with an estimated annual value of more than £6 million to over 300 local organisations across the capital. In turn these organisations provide some 80,000 meals on average per week for community programmes including homeless shelters, soup kitchens, family centres and domestic abuse refuges. The new space is on SEGRO’s Acton Estate in West London and will complement City Harvest’s existing facility, also on the estate. It will enable the charity to accept more food donations and essentials to be distributed across London. Alan Holland, Business Unit Director Greater London, SEGRO said:? “Having a long-term and positive impact on the economy and society within the communities where we have a presence has been at the heart of our business for a century and will continue to do so in the future. Over the years, we have established a very good relationship with City Harvest to ensure that the needs of specific locations can be met and that a real difference is made to thousands of people’s lives. “City Harvest has provided invaluable support for so many vulnerable people right across our London portfolio, so we’re proud to be able to help it continue and extend its great work even further.” Laura Winningham, CEO of City Harvest, said: “City Harvest’s successful, rapid response to growing levels of hunger during the COVID crisis was made possible by SEGRO’s support. This crisis will leave a long-lasting need for our scaled-up food redistribution efforts amongst London’s vulnerable communities. With SEGRO as a partner, we will utilise this additional depot space to triple our impact, allowing us to deliver millions of additional nourishing meals annually.” In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, City Harvest is also working with numerous projects supporting London’s dedicated NHS workers and children that are at present missing out on free school meals. In April, SEGRO launched its Centenary Fund which will see £10 million awarded to local community projects in the UK and Continental Europe over the next decade. During the initial weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic, the money from the fund was used to provide urgent help to vulnerable members of the community. Future funding rounds will focus on local community projects which help and inspire disadvantaged people into education, training and employment.
