Team help pack more than 50k meals to tackle hunger

Tens of thousands of meals have been donated and packed in Coventry in just one day to help starving families in the UK and overseas.

More than 300 volunteers - including 20 staff from Coventry solicitors Band Hatton Button - came together at King Edward VIII School on Warwick Road to pack 50,112 meals for the Tackling Hunger project.

Around 815 million people in the world don't get the food they need for a healthy life, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.

The Trussell Trust, which has 400 food banks around the UK, also revealed it provided nearly 1.2 million food parcels to starving people in Britain last year.

The challenge was organised by the Rotary Clubs of Kenilworth and Leamington Spa Regency along with Rise Against Hunger which co-ordinates the distribution of aid, The Trussell Trust and King Henry VIII School.

Around 250 kilos of food was also donated to the Trussell Trust, while volunteers also donated £1,000 to the food bank for equipment to support their work.

Meals packed on the day were made up of ingredients such as lentils, maze, rice and hydration sachets.

Jonathan Miller is the President of the Rotary Club of Kenilworth and co-led on the organisation of the Tackling Hunger event.

He said: "To have made up 50,000 meals is a brilliant effort, so I'd like to say a big thank-you to every single volunteer who came along on the day.

"It was fantastic to see so many generations and organisations coming together to help make a difference at a time when the number of people accessing food banks are on the rise.

"The day was a good opportunity to raise awareness of just how many people are going hungry, and will hopefully inspire everybody who attended on the day to help with similar events in the future.

"Such was the success of this event we are already planning to hold another event next year, so watch this space."

Other volunteers that joined Band Hatton Button on the day included those from King Henry VIII School, Campion School, Kenilworth School, the Air and Sea Cadets, Guides and Heart of England Rotary Clubs.

Sarah Jordan, head of marketing and client relations at Band Hatton Button, added: "In addition to providing volunteers, our £1,000 sponsorship of the event has funded more than 4,000 meals.

"The day was a real eye-opener into how serious this issue is, and hopefully as the word spreads, the next event can be even bigger."