Christmas Ocado Depot Purge
Following on from our successful 2022 Ocado purge event we again partnered with
Basingstoke Spotlight and Bidfood to carry out the 2023 purge.
Ocado Regional Services Manager, Ruth Curry working out of their Andover depot once
again was crucial in ensuring the organisation of collecting the food pallets ran smoothly.
This year we had so much food that it required two loads to be delivered which in turn
meant a second journey for driver Mick Gilluley to our base at Hatch Warren Infant School.
A total of 25 pallets were sorted by nearly 100 volunteers. Drivers from Basingstoke Round Table, 41 Club, Basingstoke Spotlight and Basingstoke Neighbour Care delivered food to Local Care Home and hostels for the homeless.
The volunteers were motivated by the fact that the identified vulnerable families and organisations would benefit from the high-quality food donations in this current cost-of-living crisis.
Spotlight's network of Basingstoke schools and local families were also contacted and queues of people that afternoon showed the success of their operation.
A large surplus of vegetables was avoided this year by more careful planning. A small load of vegetables and bread was delivered to a local pig farm and surplus carrots were provided for various donkeys and horses stables in the area.
The impact on the on the community was apparent almost immediately with email, text and video responses thanking us for our efforts.
Our temporary volunteer WhatsApp group was a very useful tool to co-ordinate our tasks and we soon got to know that targets had been reached and plans completed; as obviously we all wanted to get home that Christmas Eve!
Our grateful thanks for the generosity and community spirit shown by all our volunteers, Ruth from Ocado, Spotlight who supplied over 30 willing sorters and baggers, Hatch Warren Infant School, Marks and Spencer, Basingstoke, who supplied carrier bags and to Bidfood whose driver Mick had worked so hard.
In the end we had fed over 1300 people and in the aftermath of our success National President Steve James said, “This year's was Ocado's biggest purge with both Andover and Bristol depots having zero waste, which is truly amazing.”
Basingstoke 41 Club hopes that this great initiative can continue and maybe encourage more local Community Food Partners in future to follow this example.
Ocado Warehouse Purge on Christmas Eve.
Members of the Round Table Family joined together to distribute unsold fresh food from the Ocado Warehouse at Avonmouth, Bristol, on Christmas Eve to charities that feed the homeless in the South West over the Festive Season.
Organised by Past National President, Terry Cooper and his wife Lin, local 41 Clubs, Tangent and Round Tabler's past and present used their own transport to deliver the food giving up part of their Christmas Eve to be involved. The volunteer drivers came from Bristol 41 Club and Round Table, Clevedon 41 Club and Tangent, Gordano 41 Club, Thornbury RT, Weston-Super-Mare 41 Club and a past Tabler from South Wales.
Between them they delivered 92 trays of unsold food to 11 locations in Bristol, Bath, Nailsea, Portishead, Thornbury, Cardiff and Weston-super-Mare. They could have delivered more had the food been available, but Ocado had been very busy on the run up to Xmas and had sold out of many items. Terry said, "I had 27 volunteer drivers and vehicles of various sizes available, as every local Club offered assistance. It was an amazing response in the true spirit on the RT Family."
The weather could have had better as it didn't stop raining and there was a strong wind that made loading the vehicles a challenge at times, but everyone was in a festive mood and things went swimmingly!
Terry praised all of the driving team, even those who in the end weren’t needed, as everyone arrived on time for their pick up or were ready to attend if needed.
A few people deserve a special mention as the team did have to make some last-minute changes due to the weather conditions and the accessibility of the Ocado site, which they hadn’t appreciated until they arrived. The loading team did an amazing job in difficult conditions and everything went very smoothly. Mary Faunt from Clevedon Tangent stood out in the rain and marshalled the vehicles into position for loading. Wayne Faunt from Clevedon 41 Club together with Terry and Lin’s son Jon sorted the tray contents to spread the different food products around whilst Lin gave out delivery instructions and counted the trays onto the vehicles. Through all this Terry managed to stay dry in the van making and receiving phone calls from drivers and delivery points and, of course, keeping out of the way!
The Round Table Family was further involved as Past Circle National President, Ruth Curry, works for Ocado and organised everything from an internal perspective for us-thank you Ruth.
Opportunities like this one show what the Round Table Family is all about, Give us a project for charity that needs organisation and volunteers - we’ll get the job done!
