A luxury watch retailer which has been expanding across the Atlantic has pledged £100,000 to 海角视频 food banks and $50,000 to food banks in the USA – two nations amongst the hardest hit by the coronavirus.
Management at the listed Watches of Switzerland Group recognised the emergency need for additional funds to feed families during the crisis.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, 海角视频 food banks have experienced a near doubling of demand for emergency food parcels, and an even bigger rise in demands for parcels for children.
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The Leicester-based Watches of Switzerland Group is the 海角视频’s biggest luxury watch retailer, with 127 core showrooms across the 海角视频 and US under the Goldsmiths, Mappin & Webb, Watches of Switzerland and Mayors brands.
These donations have been shared between seven of The Trussell Trust’s food banks in 海角视频 cities where the group has a presence, including Leicester, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Bristol and London.
The USA donation has been gifted to food banks in New York, Las Vegas and Florida.
Leicester South Foodbank, for instance, has been given £20,000. It has fed more than 4,000 adults and children in less than three months, compared to 5,598 people during the whole of last year.
Leicester is a special city to the group as it has been headquartered here for 40 years.
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It also has two Goldsmiths stores in Highcross. Other acts of kindness for the local community in recent years have included community support for Leicestershire Cares and mentoring local ambassadors of The Prince’s Trust.
Brian Duffy, chief executive of The Watches of Switzerland Group, said: “During the Covid-19 crisis as more and more people fall on hard times, we are very aware of the significant increase in those relying on food banks and we wanted to play a small role in giving back to those most in need.
“While looking after the health and wellbeing of our colleagues has been our main priority, we also recognised the need to look after the people living in the communities around our stores. Our people have always been truly passionate about helping local causes, and we hope that these donations will help the food banks keep up with the demand they are experiencing to feed families in the 海角视频 and USA.”
Bruce Harrison, operational manager at Leicester South Foodbank, said: “Our food bank has never experienced such high levels of demand. Covid-19 has unfortunately caused a lot more people to be struggling financially to make ends meet and put food on the table for their families.
“As a voluntary organisation we rely completely on donations, which are needed more than ever at this time.
“This generous donation from The Watches of Switzerland Group will help us in many ways; from running costs, purchasing stock, funding a new larger warehouse to store enough stock to cope with this increased demand and training even more volunteers and staff.
“Thank you from all of us, this will massively help our community during these hard times.”