Number crunching: Kent accountants support foodbank campaign
Charter Tax Collects For Local Food Bank
If you have a warm, comfortable home and a roof over your head, you’re lucky.
The team at Kent and London accountancy firm Charter Tax know this – which is why they’ve been supporting less fortunate families through a West Kent foodbank.
Accountants at the company’s Kent office just outside Goudhurst supported the Nourish Community Foodbank’s 12 Days of Christmas campaign during the run-up to the festive season by bringing in a daily item of food to donate.
Nourish helps people in the Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge areas – not just by providing food, but by supporting them and putting them in touch with other organisations who can help them, whether with finding employment or learning to cook, budget and eat a healthy diet.
Since it was set up in 2012, the charity has provided more than 160,000 meals. Just £3 buys a meal for someone in need.
Dawn Stanford, Nourish’s operations manager, explained: “In 2018 we had a referral for two teenage girls who were unexpectedly bereaved. They had no extended family and had been surviving for several weeks with limited food.
“We were able to step in, fill their cupboards with food essentials and, thanks to offers of help from some of our wonderful long-term supporters, we could make sure they had a Christmas Day meal without having to worry about food.”
Recipients have to be referred to the foodbank by someone like a health professional or police officer to ensure they’re genuine, and normally are allowed a maximum of 12 food parcels in a year. In 2017-2018, two thirds of people who used the foodbank did so three times or less.
Janet Pierce, Charter Tax’s founder and principal, said:“We try to do as much as we can to support good causes. In the past we’ve supported the Hospice in the Weald, Tax Help for Older People, Movember, the Tough Mudder challenge in aid of Help for Heroes and the Calverley Adventure Grounds play area in Tunbridge Wells.
“We chose to help the foodbank this year because we feel it’s a big problem. A study by Heriot-Watt University for the Trussell Trust estimated that one in 50 UK households used a foodbank in 2018-19 – and that the average income of those households was £50 a week after rent.
“The team at Charter Tax know we’re lucky, because we don’t have to worry about whether we can feed ourselves and our kids from week to week. This feels like the least we can do.
“Anyone can fall on hard times, and if any of us were in that situation, we’d hope others would be generous to us.”
Founded in 2009, Charter Tax works with a variety of clients, both individuals and businesses, in the UK and internationally. We help with everything from VAT and company accounts to finance for couples who are getting divorced, and specialise in international tax, including company expansions abroad, offshore trusts and tax for non-doms.
Call us at our Kent office on 01580 313108, or visit us at Suite 1, Bedgebury Business Park, Forge Farm, Goudhurst TN17 2QZ. Or contact our London office at 1 St James’s Place, SW1A 1NP or on 020 7084 5771.
To find out more about the Nourish Community Foodbank visit www.nourishcommunityfoodbank.org.uk