JCB has launched an international aid initiative in the communities around its factories to help people in need of food as a result of disruption caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. The company’s catering staff in the UK and India are preparing more than 37,000 meals a week for distribution around towns and villages located close to its plants. The initiative is the idea of Lady Bamford, wife of JCB Chairman Lord Bamford. Source: Timberbiz
Last week the company announced it was starting production of ventilators to assist with the COVID-19 efforts, now the company has pulled together resources to assist with providing much need food.
In the UK, staff prepare 2000 cottage pies a week for distribution in the North Staffordshire area.
The first meals arrived in specially prepared containers with a message, which reads: “Lovingly prepared by JCB’s chefs for our local community.”
The scale of the operation in India is even bigger, where the Coronavirus has caused huge disruption to people’s lives.
Forty-five JCB staff have been mobilised to cook more than 35,000 meals a week in the company canteens for communities around JCB’s factory locations in Delhi, Pune and Jaipur.
In the UK, distribution of the meals will be widened in the coming days and weeks to cover the homeless, NHS frontline employees, vulnerable families in Rocester, Cheadle and Uttoxeter, the elderly and those suffering from mental illness.
Meanwhile, India is currently in national lockdown until 14 April and tens of thousands of the country’s 45 million migrant workers have been heading back to their villages after losing their jobs as businesses in the cities were forced to shut temporarily.
Thousands of migrant workers are also choosing to remain in the places where they work but with no income, they have no means to buy food.
To help alleviate the harrowing situation, JCB is providing food parcels to the most vulnerable in the areas around its factories. The food being distributed includes a vegetable curry, rice, green vegetables and chapatis and provides a meal of 1000 calories. A team of JCB volunteers is working with local authorities to ensure the aid reaches the most vulnerable in society.
