A significant safety milestone at the company's Stanlow refinery has resulted in a donation to the West Cheshire Foodbank
Essar Oil UK’s Stanlow refinery has managed to achieve three million hours without a lost time injury. This achievement was recognized with a £3,000 donation to the West Cheshire Foodbank. The charity is based close to the manufacturing complex in the Stanney Mill Industrial Estate. The donation was made under the ‘Let’s Give’ scheme which links charitable giving with site safety performance.
The West Cheshire Foodbank provides relief to individuals and families in crisis in West Cheshire. This happens through the provision of emergency food supplies, along with practical, mental and spiritual support either directly or by referral to approved partner agencies. It also seeks to raise awareness on the causes of food poverty and encourage both policy-makers and local people to take action.
Mr Roger Ellis, Pipelines Manager at Essar, who nominated the charity, explains, “My wife Wendy first became involved a couple of years ago and now works with them on a regular basis developing and sharing low cost, healthy recipes that people visiting the Foodbank can use. The aim is to build relationships with people through cooking and eating, and to encourage an interest in cooking cheap, home-made, healthy and seasonal foods.”
He explains why he chose to nominate the charity, “I was moved on two fronts. Firstly, there were so many people close to me in Ellesmere Port in food poverty and visiting the Foodbank to obtain essential food for their families. Secondly, the Foodbank has only two part-time paid staff and the vast majority of the effort relies upon enthusiastic volunteers managing a food collection, storage and distribution system to make this happen.”
Mr Alec Spencer, Development Officer at West Cheshire Foodbank, says, "Every week, our Foodbank provides emergency food to over 100 people in crisis situations. This is only possible because of the dedication of our volunteers who give their time to collect, sort and store public donations of food at our warehouse. This money will enable us to make much needed improvements to our operations and facilities as part of our development plan for 2015, improvements which will better support our volunteers. We'd like to extend our sincere thanks to the staff at Essar for their incredible support and we also commend them for their impressive safety record!"
