By KATHRYN BERMINGHAM
TEAM members from Coles Pakenham have used their packing, stacking, filling and sorting skills to help local people in need.
Staff from the Main Street store, along with seven other local Coles stores, recently took time to volunteer for the 4Cs Crisis Relief Centre.
As well as the volunteer effort, the store has been donating food and supplies to 4Cs for almost a year, with products being collected four to five times a week.
Such frequent donation is made possible through Coles’ partnership with ‘SecondBite’, a national fresh food rescue organisation.
Since the beginning of the partnership, Coles has donated 9133 kilograms of fresh fruit, vegetables and bakery items – the equivalent of 18,266 meals.
The 4Cs client services manager Rebecca Burr said the support of businesses like Coles was crucial to the operation of the organisation.
“On any given day, 4Cs will help an average of 185 families. This simply wouldn’t be possible without our ongoing partnership with Coles,” she said.
“If we weren’t getting these deliveries the families would go hungry.”
Ms Burr also thanked Coles employees for giving up their time.
“We are just so grateful when people take time out of their day to volunteer with us.”
Coles Pakenham Store Manager Brad Johnson said staff embraced the opportunity to make a difference within the community.
“We had about 14 Coles team members at 4Cs helping to sort food and pack boxes,” he said.
“Everyone involved got a lot out of the experience and were pleased to be making a positive contribution to the community,” he said.
Throughout September, Coles ran a campaign to help reduce food wastage by selling food storage labels to raise money for SecondBite and to help customers make the most of leftover food.
