Michell Bearings employees, along with employees from across the British Engines Group, came together to donate to local foodbanks across the North East as part of Christmas Jumper Day.

Newcastle East Foodbank, part of a nationwide network of food banks managed by The Trussell Trust, was chosen to receive donations. Located in Heaton, the project was founded by local churches and community groups to help stop hunger in the local area. They provide people in crisis with three days’ worth of nutritionally balanced emergency food and support.

Since March, the demand for food banks has been higher than ever due to the devastating effects of the Covid pandemic. Whether hit by redundancy, school closures or other crises, more people than ever were sadly forced to rely on foodbanks over the festive season.

A total of 258kg of food along with a further £232 was donated by Michell Bearings and employees from across the British Engines group. This equates to a total of ten, large family food parcels and excludes donations of toiletries, chocolate and children’s toys which went towards helping families provide their loved ones with small Christmas gifts.

Jodie McAndrew, Group Marketing Manager at British Engines, said: “We are very grateful to all of our employees for their kind and generous donations which we hope went some way towards helping people within the local community to have an easier and more enjoyable Christmas despite current circumstances.”

In order to go some way further towards helping those struggling in the local community, the British Engines group donated an additional £10,000 to three local food banks, including Newcastle East Foodbank, Feeding Families and Hebburn Helps.