Greggs raise over £2,000 for HARP

Greggs have been donating unsold food to Southend’s Homeless Charity HARP for many years. This support is invaluable as we provide over 60,000 meals a year to people taking steps to overcome homelessness and their food donations really help us meet this need. Greggs also held a national ‘Homelessness Awareness Week’ in February, and we were grateful to be chosen as the local beneficiary charity, with stores raising over £2,000 to support local homeless people.

With many of their stores situated in town centres, the staff and customers at Greggs often see rough sleepers in the busy streets near to where their shops are located and Area Manager Karen Fitzgerald, pictured above with staff at the Southend High Street store, said “In this day and age it’s awful to think that there are people sleeping on our streets, but through our work with HARP over the years we have come to see the difference that the charity makes and this is why we are proud to support them anyway we can.”

Rita Docker from the Greggs Foundation said “this year we held a ‘Homelessness Awareness Week’ to get people talking about homelessness and how we as a community can make a real difference. We are proud to say that stores across the South-East of England raised £2,119.47 for HARP to help them reach out to more in their local area and provide long term solutions for those that are homeless. At the Greggs Foundation we want to improve the quality of life in local communities and we hope that this money will go on to make a real and lasting difference to homeless people in Southend.”

If you would like to get involved with HARP’s campaign to end rough sleeping in Southend visit www.harpsouthend.org.uk/get-involved to find out how you can help.