Food Bank Fridays

Yardi UK Fights Hunger

By Yardi Blog Staff on Sep 5, 2018 in Giving

Staff at the Yardi Milton Keynes office are cleaning out their home pantries. But they’re not checking for expiration dates—they’re collecting items for the Milton Keynes Food Bank. Located in Buckinghamshire, about an hour northwest of London, the Yardi UK office employs over sixty team members, and they hope to make a big impact.

As part of Yardi’s philanthropy program, the UK team started a charity committee. They sent out a survey to gather feedback and decide which charities to support as a team. The group wanted to keep things local and at first chose a handful of organizations to contribute to.

But after the initial charity drive, members of the team had a desire to get involved with something a bit more hands-on. Hannah Holmes and Martin Gedny from the marketing team took a trip to the local food bank. Both learned a great deal about the types of people who benefit from the organization. “It was such an insightful experience that we decided to get involved, and at the very least, set up a donation box,” said Hannah Holmes, marketing associate. “The collection has been a massive hit, and it’s just a start. We want to also encourage team members to get down there and volunteer as well,” said Martin Gedny, senior manager, EMEA marketing.

The Milton Keynes Food Bank, recipient of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, aims to educate locals about the realities of hunger in the area. Long believed to be an issue only in developing countries, hunger is a very real threat; even in prosperous communities, many families live on the edge of poverty. And since the food bank relies entirely on contributions from local schools, churches and businesses, every donation counts.

Each week, the team checks the website to see which items they need most, and staff donate whatever they can: tins of fish, veggies, fruit, pasta, rice, children’s cereal. It’s not just food though. Beneficiaries of the food bank also require toiletries, so the UK team helps with that too. At the end of the week the UK office has “Food Bank Friday” where the donation box is collected. Items are then packed into bundles and distributed.

Staff members have certainly been moved by the effort, and many of them bring in whole shopping bags full of things. And the team hopes to get involved soon with some volunteer work at the food bank as well. But for now, they’re happy to help in any way they can—and Milton Keynes Food Bank is thrilled to be able to help even more families in need.

Join Yardi in the quest to end hunger in Milton Keynes. Support the Milton Keynes Food Bank today. Read about other philanthropic efforts by the global Yardi team on our Giving page.