His Food is the food arm of His Church Charity which was established 15 years ago with the ethos of finding solutions for problems in order to support those in need.
The charity is based in a large aircraft hangar in Lincolnshire and operates by collecting food, hygiene products, clothing and toys which can no longer be used or sold by distributors, but are still of a high quality and will make a positive difference to people out in the community.
Wolves Foundation’s senior manager (projects) Tom Warren, food poverty project manager Ollie Locker and health and wellbeing manager Rachel Smith have visited His Church to finalise the donation which will support their work in Wolverhampton.
“We are delighted to have formed this new partnership with His Church which sits perfectly with Feed Our Pack,” says Tom.
“We are always aiming to be progressive and it is really beneficial to be working with a partner who shares our ambition of finding new and creative ways to support the community.
“This link-up is going to help foodbanks produce and deliver an additional 60,000 meals a year, an overall increase of 30% in their provision for the community.
“We had a really interesting day visiting His Church and meeting everyone involved with such a fantastic initiative.
“It means we are now ready to provide substantial support to foodbanks across Wolverhampton in addition to the holiday food activities and food parcels which we have been distributing since Feed Our Pack launched in January.”
There is a fascinating story to how His Church was launched to become such an influential organisation supporting 3,000 other charities and whose president Trevor Cockings was awarded an MBE for Services to Food Provision during the pandemic.
“It all started 15 years ago with when we set off with 40 shipping containers, but had no concept of the scale that the operation would reach,” says Richard Humphrey, director of operations with His Church.
“Our first donation was an £8 gift voucher from Morrisons and someone actually questioned whether we should accept it but Trevor was adamant that we should receive it with thanks - after all it was the start and even that voucher would make a difference to a family in need.
“It was while we were there that we discovered they were throwing away 200 tins of soup they were no longer able to sell due to an obsolete label but the food was still perfect quality.
“We were offered the soup and gratefully accepted it all, which started the whole process of us realising we could provide solutions to problems that supermarkets and retail stores had.
“They were actually spending money to get rid of surplus stock they could no longer use, but we could take it off their hands and pass it on to people who really needed it.
“We wrote letters to all the big food distributors and we gradually built up the operation which now also includes new clothing, toys, hygiene products and much more.
“Rebranding counterfeit clothing has become another big part of the charity's operations – normally it would be shredded or incinerated when it is seized but now trading standards pass it on to us where we can remove any labelling and again, give it to those who need it in the community.”
His Church works with many different charities from all aspects of society across many different cultures and religions, with support proving particularly timely and beneficial during the pandemic.
The charity has also worked with many different clubs, most recently supporting Arsenal with over 500,000 meals, using the power of the engagement of football to make a positive difference.
It ties in perfectly with the Feed Our Pack initiative which was launched at the start of this year and has been boosted by over £80,000 of fundraising from supporters.
“Feed Our Pack is such a wonderful idea and superb initiative which has had great backing from the Wolves fans, and we are really looking forward to playing a part in making such a positive difference in Wolverhampton,” Richard added.
If you would like to support Wolves Foundation with the Feed Our Pack project, donate here and keep up to date via our social media @wwfcfoundation.
