Left to Right: From Bidfood in Lee Mill- Richard Carswell, GM, Mark Weedon Warehouse Mgr, Dean Trice Warehouse Supervisok, Phil Way Warehouse Stock Supervisor, and Richard Hill Transport Manager. In the Centre: From Call South West- John Makin and Dr Geoffrey Perham.

Local foodservice provider raises over £1,800 for Devon charity

Last month, Bidfood’s depot in Devon donated £1,820.33 to the local charity Call South West, to help them support children and adults with communication difficulties.

The Devon depot has supported Call South West for the last two years, so far donating over £4,500 from a variety of fundraising activities. These activities included: sponsored bike rides and walks along the South West Coast Path, a ‘Calendar Girls’ style 2018 employee calendar, as well as cake sales and raffles..

The depot’s generous donations will go towards Call South West’s funding of Augmentative & Alternative Communication (AAC) equipment to help people with communication complications; these include speech impairment or impediment, physical disability, sensory or language impairment, learning difficulty and more. With the rapid advances in tablets, smartphones and apps, this AAC technology can now help in ways unimaginable only a few years ago.

Speaking about the relationship between Bidfood and Call South West, Richard Carswell, General Manager at Bidfood in Lee Mill said: “We have been very lucky to work with such a fantastic charity over the past two years, who provide great support for the communication difficulties that an increasing number of people struggle with daily.

“Supporting such a worthy local cause like this is incredibly important to us and we will continue to support where we can in the future.”

Talking about the donation, John Makin, Treasurer at Call South West, said: “All of our funding comes directly from charity donations and support of local organisations. We receive no governmental help, so Bidfood’s kind support really makes a difference.

Call South West work closely with speech therapists and other specialised professionals on a daily basis to ensure clients receive the most appropriate help for their problems, as this help is often not funded by the NHS."

John continued to say: “We are most grateful to Bidfood’s Lee Mill depot for choosing us as their nominated charity over the last two years, and for the generous sum of almost £5,000, which they have kindly raised for us.”