Central England Co-op rolls out pioneering community hub project across four areas – helping over 250 people

Posted by rob smyth | Published: 22/04/2020


A pioneering scheme aimed at helping the most vulnerable people in the community has been rolled out across four areas by Central England Co-op.

Special community hubs have been created at food stores in Derby, Burton, Stafford and Lichfield with the help of local councils in effort to identify and support local people in need.

Council workers then gather orders and pass them onto Central England Co-op colleagues who create a package and take payment from the customer over the phone before the local council deliver the goods.

The schemes, which have only been in place for a matter of weeks, have already helped over 250 people.

The project is part of plan to create similar projects based out of Central England Co-op community hub stores across the 16 counties it trades in and even farther afield on a national scale.

Debbie Robinson, Chief Executive of Central England Co-op, said: “Co-operation is key to our communities coming together during this uncertain time and this is why we have linked up with local councils in four areas to launch this pioneering scheme during this uncertain time.

“This unique project will see the councils contact vulnerable people in the community and work with us to deliver food and essentials to them.

“This is a great example of communities and organisations coming together at a time of need and creating a solution that will make a difference.

 “We have further plans in place to rapidly roll out this out across other locations to make sure we support as many people as we can in the coming weeks.”

East Staffordshire Borough Councillor Duncan Goodfellow said: “It is essential that organisations that can provide support come together to ensure that those people most at risk are cared for in the best way possible.

“I am proud that East Staffordshire Borough Council has joined forces with Central England Co-op to deliver this ground-breaking provision in Burton.

“This service will ensure that the most vulnerable people in our communities are able to get the vital food and essentials they need during these unprecedented times.”

 

Notes to editors

About Central England Co-operative

Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK with interests in food, funeral, floral, travel and property investment.

 

Co-operatives have always been there for their communities; they were formed to protect them and help them flourish. 

 

Our 7,900 colleagues who serve Members and customers work hard to ensure that co-operative values, principles and spirit flow through everything we do to help support and improve our local communities.

 

Owned by hundreds of thousands of Members, we have over 430 trading outlets across 16 counties including West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. 

 

We are proud of our reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.

 

We invest a percentage of our trading profit into local communities through our Community Dividend Fund scheme, have donated over £1.3 million to our corporate charity partner Dementia UK and also operate a pioneering food redistribution partnership with FareShare Midlands so unsold food goes to those in need.

 

Visit www.centralengland.coop for more information or follow us on Facebook or Twitter using @mycoopfood

 

 

Press office contacts: Rob Smyth and James Brindle

 

Phone - 01543 421390

 

Email - publicrelations@centralengland.coop