Chester Race Company have today announced that they will join the newly launched Coordinated Community Response so that staff can play their part in helping local communities respond to the recent COVID-19 developments.
In collaboration with Cheshire West Voluntary Action, Cheshire West and Chester Council and other voluntary groups, local residents can register their interest in supporting members of the local community who may need extra help in the coming weeks and months.
Chester Race Company are pledging their support to the initiative by providing a drop off place at their on-site hotel; Holiday Inn Express at Chester Racecourse. The food will be given to West Cheshire Foodbank, as part of their efforts to help the most vulnerable people in the Borough. From Friday 20 March, members of the public can donate non-perishable food items such as dried goods and tins to those in need.
Race Company members of staff will be working with West Cheshire Foodbank to ensure that donations can be distributed to those in social isolation or crisis.
To launch the drop off place, Chester Race Company have donated £1,000 worth of much-needed food items. You can read more about the types of food you can donate online at westcheshire.foodbank.org.uk/. The drop off place will be open between the hours of 9 am – 9 pm.
For those unable to visit the drop off place in person, Chester Race Company have also set up a Just Giving page through which members of the public can donate whatever they can afford to support. Any monetary donation great or small will be welcomed and will go straight to West Cheshire Foodbank. Visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/wcfb for more information and to donate.
In partnership with local charities like SHARE, Chester Race Company staff have been supporting homelessness initiatives for the past couple of years. To continue with this work, the race company will be working with member organisations of Outside In, a wider group of organisations that support the Borough’s homeless, to use some of the food donated at the drop off place to create support packages for homeless people who are in self-isolation.
Chief Executive of Chester Race Company, Richard Thomas, said:
“There is a great deal of uncertainty felt around current events and the developing COVID-19 situation. We want to do as much as we can for the most vulnerable groups within our local community by supporting this new coordinated response effort. A coordinated response to the evolving pandemic demonstrates our solidarity as a community. We all have a part to play in protecting our most vulnerable residents and by working together we are stronger.”
