Our Businesses Supporting Our Community

There has been a heart-warming stream of businesses using our Smarter Giving programme to connect with the charities within our Quarter that are crying out for your support. Over the last few weeks, Kate, our Smarter Giving Manager has facilitated much needed help to North Paddington Food Bank, which provides emergency packages of food and toiletries to individuals and families in financial difficulty, as it has struggled with a huge increase in demand. Due to social distancing the food bank has switched to delivery only for its parcels. Deliveries which Paper Round, Veolia and Baldwin Electrical have stepped up and volunteered their vans and drivers to assist with. Whilst the Quarter’s Co-Op has donated 100 crates to help to deliver food. British Land is supporting the delivery service with a mobile phone and contract as well as donating the use of one of its vans to a local youth centre, too.

The Ardagh Group has made significant cash donations of £10,000 to the food bank and £10,000 to St Mungo’s.  The demands on the food bank are extremely high and will be for the foreseeable future, so please do contact us if you can contribute.

We are working with many residents groups in the area to co-ordinate and field volunteers to the food bank and other places in need. We know that many of you are not in the area, so volunteering is difficult, but there are many other ways in which you can help and get involved. One business has recently dispatched an internal email to its employees to suggest donating travel money and their work from home allowance if it isn’t needed… just one of the ideas from our caring businesses. Perhaps you would like to fundraise with a challenge such as sponsored miles on Strava or another fun challenge!

Other businesses in the area, including Knight Frank, London and Regional and Madame Tussauds, have both donated stationery and arts and crafts materials to Newpin Children’s Day Centre, which is currently bringing relief to low income families with very limited resources. And they have supplied a huge quantity of snacks to St Mary’s Hospital staff.

As well as donating soaps to the North Paddington Food Bank, The Hyatt Regency – The Churchill has donated their sofas and consoles to West London Mission and are in discussions with us to help with a number of other initiatives.

The Hearts to Homes campaign, which is centred in the Church Street Ward, has asked for volunteers and donations of shopping for those living locally in isolation and has seen tremendous support; but their need continues. You can help to fund them as they look after the area’s most vulnerable here. The list of generous donations and support goes on…

We also wanted to mention some of the phenomenal stories we’ve seen from many of the Quarter’s retailers and restaurants who are very busy contributing to the NHS with initiatives from fundraising and cooking food to making scrubs.

Take a look at our How You Can Help page, and do get in touch with our Smarter Giving Manager, Kate, to discuss how you can help.