Wed 20 December 23

Pacifica partners with Sunderland and County Durham Foodbank to support communities in need

Pacifica has partnered with the Sunderland and County Durham Foodbank to support families and communities in crisis.

Pacifica, the UK’s leading domestic appliance repair specialists, has partnered with the Sunderland and County Durham Foodbank to support families and communities in crisis.

Over the next year, teams of up to six Pacifica colleagues, who will be given paid leave to volunteer, will help at the distribution centre in Chester-le-Street, where donations are collected, sorted and distributed to various foodbanks.

Those volunteering will be split into smaller groups and tasked with sorting and making up food parcels for foodbanks that have limited space, volunteers or time.

Established in 2011, the Sunderland and County Durham Foodbank fed 3,209 in its first 12 months. Today it feeds almost 2,000 people a month across 38 foodbanks, including community centres and churches. County Durham-based Pacifica is one of the largest providers of outsourced support services in the UK, providing maintenance and repair of domestic appliances on behalf of white goods manufacturers, retailers, and warranty providers. Undertaking more than 350,000 appliance repairs every year, Pacifica employs in the region of 250 engineers covering the whole of the UK.

This commitment runs alongside Pacifica’s pledge to donate almost 10,000 items to food banks across the UK over 12 months, alongside its continuing support of FareShare which has seen donations equating to 24,000 meals in the last 12 months.

FareShare is the UK’s national network of charitable food redistributors, taking good quality surplus produce from the food industry and retailers and getting it to frontline charities and community groups. Kevin Brown, CEO at Pacifica, said: “The work that the team at the Distribution Centre take on is fantastic and we are delighted to help as part of our wider food bank initiatives.

“We have committed to providing paid leave for our colleagues to enable them to volunteer and contribute to this amazing operation.

“We are proud of the work we do to help those less fortunate that ourselves. We believe in the power of community and shared responsibility, particularly during a cost-of-living crisis when demand for foodbanks has risen significantly.”