Posted on Thursday 23rd April 2020
Staffordshire County Council Deputy Leader Alan White pictured at the food distribution depot.
The 1,000th food parcel from Staffordshire County Council for vulnerable residents without any support network is being delivered today.
The local authority has been taking bulk consignments of essential supplies and repackaging them for individual delivery.
The 1,000th parcel will be among the latest batch being taken to local distribution centres across the county, from where they will be delivered to individual households.
Alan White, Deputy Leader of Staffordshire County Council and Cabinet member for Health, Care and Wellbeing, said:
It has been a remarkable effort to get this operation up and running in such a short space of time and I thank everyone involved, including the volunteers who are helping make up the individual parcels.
These deliveries are helping save lives and reducing pressure on the NHS by allowing vulnerable people to stay at home and follow medical advice to stay safe.”
The parcels contain basic items such as tinned vegetables, meat, fish and fruit, baked beans, tea and coffee, rice, pasta, cereals, porridge and toilet rolls, as well as sugar, pasta and long-life milk.
Vulnerable people who must stay indoors should look for support from family and friends, neighbours, or from local community groups.
But if someone has no-one to turn to, they can contact the county council on 0300 111 8050 for advice.
Although it is a last resort for those without support, the county council is preparing to deliver up to 20,000 parcels over a 12-week period.
Once a delivery has been organised, recipients are being put in touch with local voluntary organisations to support them in the coming weeks.
The packing is being done by volunteers including Staffordshire County Council staff transferred from other departments and catering teams from school meals provider Chartwells.
People classed as extremely-vulnerable, including those who have had organ transplants, have certain cancers, or severe respiratory conditions, who have no support should be receiving help direct from central Government after receiving a letter from the NHS.
If someone who is extremely-vulnerable has no support and has not yet asked for help they should follow the instructions in the NHS letter.
If someone needs help completing the online registration process, or thinks they have an underlying health condition which makes them extremely-vulnerable and they have not received a letter from the NHS they should contact the county council on 0300 111 8050 for assistance.