Posted on 17th Aug
A sky-diving, wing-walking Mansfield woman has found herself at the heart of a major £100,000 charity initiative to keep food banks stocked across the region.
Lauren Warner, 28, an international transport planner at Taylor’s Transport, is at the centre of operations for Rotary4foodbanks, which is providing vital supplies to more than 50 foodbanks in the region.
Now, with supermarket giant Morrisons linking to the ground-breaking scheme, she is set to get even busier.
Since the launch of Rotary4foodbanks in April, Taylor’s has donated space, staff, and vehicles to manage the stocks, which the Rotary team has been buying in bulk for food banks to maximise the public’s cash donations.
Lauren said: “I was only too happy to take on the extra work involved in managing the distribution of food to food banks.
“At Taylor’s, we’ve always tried to give back to the community and this is such a practical way of using our expertise to meet a real need.”
Rotary4foodbanks, which is already distributing £100,000-worth of staple foods like tea coffee, cereals, and tinned fruit, now works with Morrisons’ bulk buy scheme, set up specifically to help charities.
Lauren was on hand to receive the first Morrisons delivery of nearly 28,000 items of food, which recently arrived at the Taylor’s distribution centre in Huthwaite.
She is no stranger to charity endeavors. Having already completed a sky-dive in support of the John Eastwood Hospice, Sutton, where her grandfather spent his final days, Lauren is planning a wing-walk next year to raise funds for research into endometriosis.
Rotary4foodbanks is a Rotary response to the growing demands of foodbanks in the UK.
Initially operating in the East Midlands and South Yorkshire, it is attracting interest from Rotary across the UK.
Whilst it was launched in response to the Covid crisis, it is a long-term initiative to deliver a sustainable, cost-effective food sourcing program for food banks.
Eventually, Rotary4foodbanks hopes that the government will give financial backing to grow the scheme nationally.
John Cavey, project leader, explained: “Until then we are relying on product donations from food sector companies and cash funding from other thriving businesses. And, of course, we welcome donations from the always generous British public.”
