Webbox Partner with the Trussell Trust Help Pet Owners Hit by Crisis

Every day people in the UK go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy or bereavement to welfare problems or receiving an unexpected bill on a low income. Trussell Trust foodbanks provide emergency food but also a range of additional support services including debt and money advice and budget cookery courses. In addition, many foodbanks offer additional items like nappies, toiletries and pet food. 

After an approach from a local Trussell Trust foodbank, asking if the pet food brand could help with a donation, Webbox staff wanted to help on a much bigger scale.

Julie Butcher, head of marketing at Webbox commented: “We were approached earlier in the year by a local foodbank, who were asking for a donation of short dated foods for the pets of owners who use their services. We of course obliged and, after speaking with the staff at the Accrington branch, they told us how many visitors they get asking for pet food. Often the branch wouldn’t have stock so instead owners were feeding the animals with their own food before themselves.”

“After hearing about this, and the fantastic work that The Trussell Trust does, we knew we had to get involved. We have now set up a system in house so that we can provide regular drop offs at each of the 420 foodbanks. Each foodbank can also contact us directly whenever they are running low on certain foods and we will arrange a drop off for them.”

 Sam Stapley, Corporate Partnership Manager at The Trussell Trust, commented:  “We are very grateful to Webbox for their donations to our foodbanks.  We know what a difference the offer of additional items such as toiletries, nappies and pet food can make. One woman who was referred to a foodbank after reducing her working hours to attend cancer treatment was really relieved to be offered pet food whilst she waited for additional financial support. She lives on her own, and that extra help meant she didn’t have to give up her two companion dogs during a stressful and difficult period