Building Students donate holiday to Liverpool foodbank

Micah Liverpool received a large donation of food from the company and more than 200 hours of time, as part of the students’ recent holiday project.

Micah’s Paul O’Brien has sent thanks on behalf of the social justice charity, which provides help for local residents living in poverty with a wide variety of practical initiatives, including an emergency food aid service.

He said: “We are incredibly grateful for the donations the team provided, we’ve never seen such a large volume of food donated by just one company.

“Allowing the students to volunteer with us for the week was also incredibly generous. They did a fantastic job mucking in and helping out with anything that we needed, and our guests appreciated them taking the time to chat and put people at ease.

“Their efforts will have really made a difference to the people who use our service and I hope, in return, they found the experience positive and uplifting.”

As part of the Russell WBHO Building Student programme, trainees do a day each week at the University of Salford and four days working as part of the Russells team.

The students themselves chose Micah to be the recipient of their ‘holiday’ time while university was closed over the summer, as the charity operates within the communities around Russell WBHO’s Municipal Buildings project in Liverpool city centre.

The partnership was organised by budding Project Manager and Year 3 Building Student Jamie Legg who worked with Micah staff to arrange a programme of activities.

Ahead of the volunteering week, the team appealed for foodbank donations from colleagues at Russell WBHO and sister company Russell Homes.

A collection worth nearly £500 was picked up from head office and construction sites throughout the north west, and delivered to the foodbank at St Vincent Church.

The students helped unload the van and prepare packs ready for collection, before handing them out to visitors. This also gave them an opportunity to meet and find out more from people who are depending on the charity to feed themselves and their families.

The second day saw the students help with a community market at St Dunstan’s Church selling food at a heavily discounted rate to help people on low or no income. They assisted with set up, acted as cashiers, and ensured everything ran smoothly.

And on day three the students were among 15 volunteers at St Bride’s Church which offers an even larger food bank service than St Vincent’s, with over fifteen volunteers from RWBHO and Micah working together.

Despite the long hours, heavy lifting and, sometimes, emotional stories they heard from guests, the students found the whole experience extremely worthwhile.

Jamie Legg said: “It was busy and tiring throughout but we were incredibly proud of being able to donate so much food to Micah and help to make a positive impact in this way.

“The whole experience has been an eye opener for all of us, especially having the chance to talk to the people using the foodbanks who were of all ages and from a range of social backgrounds. It was hard work but we’ve all found the experience to be very rewarding.”

Y2 trainee Megan added: “I’ve never volunteered at a foodbank before but it was really good and I was happy to be doing something useful to help out, I’d definitely look at volunteering somewhere like this again.”

John Millward, Russell WBHO construction director, said the company saw enormous value in encouraging its trainees to volunteer during their academic summer break and was delighted to support their efforts with Micah.

He said: “They considered a number of options for volunteering week and this one just kept coming up top of the list for the students. We’re all conscious that foodbanks are seeing a rise in demand, while also suffering from a drop in food donations due to cost of living pressures, and the students were keen help in a very practical way.

“As a company we recognise the valuable contribution that our employees can make by donating their time, skills and enthusiasm, and we believe it is important for our young people to be considerate of the issues impacting the communities in which they are working. This sort of activity reinforces that ethos and, alongside their vocational and academic training, helps us to create the right kind of well-rounded, socially-conscious construction professionals of the future.”

The Russell WBHO Building Student volunteers