How this business is helping to feed Halifax residents in time of crisis

A business that supplies schools and public venues with milk and morning goods is rapidly refiguring its operations to provide an online home delivery service for those self-isolating in Halifax – and to ensure children, the vulnerable, the elderly can continue to receive nutritious food during the Coronavirus crisis.

Yorkshire-based Fresh Pastures, and its schools' services School Milk UK, serves a number of organisations in Halifax and normally makes more than 3,000 deliveries per day to local authorities, schools and businesses across the North of England.

Now, it is launching an online booking home and business delivery service to aid people struggling to get to the shops. Its experience and well-established processes will also be used to support a number of groups who are particularly vulnerable in this crisis, including children on free school meals, children of key workers still attending school, children with special needs, the elderly and the isolated.

Dawn Carney, Managing Director at Fresh Pastures, explains: “In these exceptionally challenging times, we all need to adapt quickly and use whatever resources we have to support each other, whether that’s in providing valuable help and support or thinking innovatively to keep our businesses functioning.

“As schools have closed temporarily, so has 97% of our business. But we still have a robust distribution infrastructure and recognise that we have an opportunity to redistribute our services to offer a vital resource for our communities. In the last few days, we have completely changed our entire operation.

“Our approach to playing our part has three elements. Firstly, we have moved at lightning speed to set up an e-commerce site enabling people at home in Halifax to order food directly from us to be delivered to their door. We are increasing deliveries to six days, Monday to Saturday, and are confident we can provide an essential service to those social distancing.

“Secondly, we are working with many local authorities to feed the vulnerable. Whilst schools are closing, many children still need to receive food from local authorities and other services. The children of key workers and those with special needs staying in school will need lunches. We are now offering a packed lunch service to support those children.

“Equally important are children on free school meals. Whilst the government’s announcement that these children will be receiving vouchers is welcome, there are concerns about how we ensure those vouchers are used for nutritious food. We are in discussions with service providers to demonstrate how we can provide healthy packed lunches to these youngsters too.

“Another critical group is the elderly. We can deliver fresh produce such as milk, eggs, bread, butter, yoghurt and cheese to those people. We are also well placed to supply care homes and meals on wheels services, some of which may be struggling to source what they need due to panic buying and the restriction that our network of supermarkets are having to put in place.

“Finally, we are aware of the challenges our foodbanks are facing. Any produce we have that is moving towards the end of its shelf life will be donated to charities and food banks to support those struggling the most.

“We are also looking to work in partnership with similar like-minded businesses who can help to create a dynamic hub of support.

“This combination of activity means we can play a vital part in helping our communities through this extraordinary period. By moving quickly and working collaboratively, we are proving that businesses like ours can provide essential support when our public services are dealing with extreme pressures and rapidly changing circumstances. At Fresh Pastures, we are immensely proud of our team who are working around the clock as we face this challenge together, motivated, committed and ready to serve.”