Arco volunteers help out at city food bank

Staff from Arco’s Customer Engagement Centre volunteering at the city’s food bank

By Simon Bristow

Volunteers from Hull-based safety company Arco have been helping out at the city’s food bank.

A team of nine from the business’ customer engagement centre helped organise hundreds of crates of food at Hull Foodbank’s warehouse in Paragon Street, helping ensure items were in order and ready to be transported to locations around the city, ready to be parcelled up and handed out.

As a fifth-generation family business, Arco is committed to being a responsible company and encourages its colleagues to share their experience, skills and knowledge in the community by providing two days of paid leave each year to support volunteering opportunities.

Helen Garnett, Customer Support Team Leader at Arco, said: “Our colleagues had a really busy day supporting Hull Foodbank, sorting thousands of food stuffs, including cereals, tinned foods, jars of sauce, dried pasta etcetera, to prioritise the items ready for distribution and help avoid any waste.

“The day was very physical and saw us packing, lifting and ordering the crates, at speed.

“It was a real pleasure to support a charity delivering such an important service to the local community and I am glad that we were able to use our organisational skills to assist the food bank at such a critical time.”

Clive Da Silva, Assistant Manager at Hull Food Bank, said: “I would like to thank Helen and her colleagues for volunteering their time with us.

“The team was really helpful and hardworking and accomplished in one afternoon what would have taken us and our volunteers’ many weeks to organise.

“It was a real pleasure to work with them. They are a credit to both themselves and to Arco as an organisation.”

Anna Harvatt, Community Engagement Manager at Arco, said: “Our colleagues really enjoy giving back to their local communities and to charitable organisations.

“It is fantastic to hear such positive feedback from Hull Foodbank about the efforts of our colleagues and that their time and skills have made such a huge difference.”

To donate items to Hull Foodbank or volunteer with the charity, visit their website. 

If you are a charity or organisation with volunteer opportunities and would like to be considered for help by Arco volunteers, email anna.harvatt@arco.co.uk.

Hull Foodbank is part of a nationwide network of food banks supported by The Trussell Trust.

It has four outlets in the city and provides three days of nutritionally balanced emergency food and support to people referred to the charity in crisis.