Each year the staff at Hegarty Solicitors nominate and vote for a local charity that they then dedicate a full year to supporting through donations and fundraising activities as their ‘Charity of the Year’.
Kally Singh, Partner and Head of the Charity Committee at Hegarty Solicitors explained; “The Trussell Trust was a charity we wanted to support as we all understand the stress put on food banks following the pandemic, and that increases in the cost of living has led to more local people relying on food banks.”
The Trussell Trust is a nationwide network of food banks that provide emergency food and supplies to people living in poverty. In the UK more than 14 million people are living poverty, but the Trussell Trust are campaigning for change to end the need for food banks in the UK for good, tackling the nations issue with poverty. The Trussell Trust support more than 1,300 food bank centres to sort and store donated food and toiletry items, identify those in need, and give out a minimum of 3 days’ worth of nutritionally-balanced emergency food.
Peterborough food bank gave a total of 6,100 emergency food parcels to people in need between April and September 2022. Kally said, “As a local business, we feel strongly about supporting the communities we are part of and helping in any way we can.“
"The Hegarty Solicitors team came together, donating items that each food bank was short of such as long-life milk, pasta sauces, and they even donated some chocolate eggs as an Easter treat! Alongside this, staff raised money through monthly dress-down days and bake sales. The Hegarty Solicitors Charity Committee used the money raised to purchase food and supplies that were needed at each food bank throughout the year."
"We were amazed by the generosity of our staff and that together we managed to donate such a large amount of food and toiletry goods to the people in our communities that most need it.”
This year, staff at Hegarty Solicitors have voted to support local charity The Lodge Trust, based in Oakham. The Lodge Trust provides support for adults with learning disabilities and has been doing so since 1984. They work to give their residents training and employment best suited to their needs, and to enable them to best care for themselves where possible.
The Hegarty Solicitors Charity Committee are working hard to put together various fundraising activities throughout the year in the hopes that they can raise even more money than last year.
Kally added, “We are very proud of what we have been able to donate this year to support our local food banks and we look forward to supporting our charity of the year for 2023.”