WILMSLOW Parish Food Friends is celebrating a £1,000 donation from Waitrose Alderley Edge, which it will use to buy food and continue supporting 300 people in financial need in the community.

During the pandemic the community group teamed up with volunteers from Styal to set up a food delivery scheme, working to help people in need, including those who are isolated and homeless.

The £1,000 donation is part of the John Lewis Partnership’s Community Fund.

Partners in the retailer’s shops have been nominating local charities to receive a donation from the Fund.

Knutsford Guardian:

Donations to the Food Friends group

The supermarket has also been donating surplus food to help the group provide hearty meals throughout the pandemic.

Flo Knowles, organiser at Wilmslow Parish Food Friends, said: “At the start of the crisis we had more help than ever, and the community were helping clients in their own way too.

“But that is dying down, and my concern is for all those who have lost jobs and those with worsening mental health as a result of lockdown in the weeks and months ahead.

“This donation will help provide valuable food packages for those most in need.”

Frank Young, manager of Waitrose Alderley Edge, said: “It’s always really important to us – and even more so at this time – that we support the areas in which we trade in and contribute towards causes at the heart of our community.

“All of us at Waitrose Alderley Edge are really pleased to be supporting the fantastic work of Wilmslow Parish Food Friends.”

Waitrose Alderley Edge has also been supporting other local food banks, as well as providing care packages for residents and donating goods to NHS staff and patients at Macclesfield Hospital.