Amazon Gateshead supports food poverty charities

Forty-nine Amazon employees volunteered at The Bread and Butter Thing and Durham Foodbank. The Amazon employees supported the charities with food packaging and store organising to prepare the charities for food deliveries.

The Bread and Butter Thing supports thousands of families facing food insecurity in Gateshead and across the UK with their 124 food clubs. The charity provides a diverse variety of healthy meals, focusing on fresh fruit and vegetables, alongside building relationships with families, giving them a voice to their stories.

Established in 2011, Durham Foodbank provides three days’ worth of healthy balanced meals to support local families and residents.

Dan Stewart, Site Leader at the Amazon fulfilment centre in Gateshead, said:

“We are pleased to help The Bread and Butter Thing and Durham Foodbank in any way we can, including our most recent time volunteering for both charities. We hope to strengthen our relationships with these two charities and continue to support them in the future.”

Jane Dobson, an employee who volunteered at The Bread and Butter Thing, said:

“We had a great time at The Bread and Butter Thing. It was so rewarding to lend a helping hand and meet the volunteers who do so much for local residents. We are so glad that we can show our appreciation to two charities that have such a positive impact in our community.”

CEO Mark Game, from The Bread and Butter Thing added:

“On behalf of the team at The Bread and Butter Thing, I would like to say a big thank you to the team at Amazon in Gateshead for taking the time out of their days to support us. They have been a great help to us, especially with the packaging of food parcels – thank you Amazon.”

Amazon supports the communities where it operates and has delivered free computer science and STEM education programmes to more than 700,000 students across the UK through Amazon Future Engineer.

Amazon helps community organisations transport meals and other essentials to families in need through its pro bono logistics programme, Amazon Local Good, including more than seven million healthy breakfasts to children at risk of hunger in partnership with Magic Breakfast. And through its Multibank initiative, co-founded with former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Amazon has supported more than 200,000 families experiencing poverty, with the donation of more than 2 million surplus essential goods.

Amazon partners with Comic Relief to help people tackle poverty and is the official home of the charity’s iconic Red Nose. Together with its employees, customers, and partners, Amazon has raised over £4.8 million to fund projects that support people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and tackle issues such as homelessness, mental health problems, and food insecurity across the UK, and around the world.