A group of day nurseries in Huddersfield is helping local residents by donating food and household essentials to a local charity.
Portland Nurseries, which has four settings across Lindley, Edgerton and Birkby, is supporting The Welcome Centre by asking parents of children that attend the nurseries to donate what they can to help families in need over the festive period.
The Welcome Centre in Huddersfield helps people in crisis by donating food packages that contain nutritious, high quality food to last a family seven days. They tailor each pack to meet people’s dietary requirements and preferences.
The provision of healthy food is a topic close to Portland Nurseries which has won numerous awards for their children’s menus. They recently gained national recognition when they launched the region’s healthiest school menu after consultation with qualified dieticians.
As well as food, parents are being asked to contribute household and kitchen items to The Welcome Centre which has a range of additional support bundles that contain toiletries and bedding, as well as a kitchen starter pack with pots, pans and cookware.
They also offer clients advocacy, guidance and support to help them address any underlying or ongoing issues which prevent them getting back on their feet.
So far the nursery has donated cans, jars, pots and pans and all donations are handled with the strictest and hygiene standards. Items are dropped off outside the nurseries and left for 48 hours before being sanitized. They are collected by volunteers from The Welcome Centre before being sorted into packages and distributed to families in the community.
Emma Greenough, fundraising manager for The Welcome Centre, said: “The Welcome Centre relies on the generosity of the community all year round to support thousands of people in the Huddersfield area.
“This year has been particularly hard for so many families due to furlough, job loss, increased mental health issues and ill health. We've supported 4,545 people in the last 12 months, with 1359 of those being children. To receive such a large donation from Portland Nurseries is fantastic and will really help us through the winter months and we can't thank the families who have donated enough.”
Portland Nurseries Joint Managing Director, Anastasia Murphy, said: “The Welcome Centre does a fantastic job in the community and we have been delighted to support them in what has been a particularly difficult year. Of course, our help has been underpinned by the generosity of our parents and I would like to thank them for all their support of our ongoing community-based initiatives.
“We have a focused ‘Community Project’ which is designed to teach children the importance of community involvement. Unfortunately, this year our visits and activities have been cancelled, so we are finding new ways to teach the same message – one of which is how we can help others and those in need in our local community.
“With this in mind we got involved with The Welcome Centre because providing people, but particularly children, with essential food products to support a healthy diet and their nutrition is very close to our core values.”
