Members of the Northern Ireland GroceryAid Branch have raised more than £32,000 for the charity thanks to an innovative Summer Picnic Hamper initiative and hugely successful Golf Day.
When the Northern Ireland Branch cancelled this year’s annual Grocer’s Ball due to Covid, its traditional hamper fundraiser was evolved into the ultimate Summer Picnic initiative. Nearly 200 hampers were sold to retailers at a cost of £100.00 each, with all food, product, design, print and logistics being donated by the grocery trade. Hampers were collected on Saturday 21st August, with everyone being encouraged to venture into the great outdoors and enjoy a delicious picnic in local parks, beaches and gardens across Northern Ireland.
Derby Desi, from Musgrave led the hamper initiative and said: “The great thing about this initiative was that retailers either raffled the hampers or rewarded them to staff who had gone the extra mile. It was an incredible effort by the NI committee; everyone put their shoulder to the wheel to ensure we could raise as much money as possible whilst minimising cost.”
Equally successful was the Branch’s GroceryAid Golf Day, which was held at Malone Golf Club, Belfast. More than 100 people from the Northern Ireland Food and Drinks Industry gathered for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
Jonathan McWhinney, Tesco and NI GroceryAid Committee Member, said: “We had a new venue and a new organising committee to lead on from the great work that the previous committee members, David McWilliams and Adrian Moore from Courtney & Nelson achieved in previous years. After last year’s event being sadly cancelled, it was fantastic to see so much support from the industry. The sun shone, the craic was mighty, with a massive amount of money raised for the charity. With the industry still facing extremely challenging times, it was great to be able to relax, socialise and have some fun after what has been a very lengthy and difficult period for all”.
In NI, GroceryAid has been continuing its support for people locally in our industry. In 2019/20, 25 people received ongoing counselling support along with 43 people benefiting from financial support totalling £63,000.
In total 3,183 people across the UK received financial support from GroceryAid, an increase of 209% on the previous year, along with a 24% increase in calls to the Helpline, resulting in a 12% increase in colleagues helped.
If you would like to join a local branch and help raise awareness and funds for GroceryAid, please contact [email protected].
For more information about GroceryAid, please visit www.www.groceryaid.org.uk
We are now taking bookings for our 2022 fundraising. To find out more and book a space, click here.
