Nottingham community ‘can’ help thanks to appeal from The Salvation Army with intu Victoria Centre

Photo: Mike and Marilyn Whiting from Nottingham Arnold church  

An appeal for local people to donate food to be shared with Nottingham’s most in need will run from this Thursday, 16 to Saturday, 18 October 2014.  

The Can-Can appeal from The Salvation Army is supported by Nottingham’s intu Victoria Centre which is providing an area outside Tesco for local people to bring donations of non perishable food such as packets and cans.    

The donations will be used to create food parcels to be distributed by The Salvation Army in Nottingham as part of its emergency food parcel service which supports local people who, due to a wide range of issues, can’t afford the basics. Around 60 people receive food parcels a month from The Salvation Army based in Sneiton.  

The Salvation Army has an ambiguous target for this year’s campaign after the 2013 appeal generated enough food to provide around 55 food parcels as well as more than £190.    Phil Johnson, Community Services Manager at the Nottingham William Booth Memorial Centre, said: “We were bowled over by the response the appeal received last year – nearly 200 cans were donated alone.   

“Over the last year we've seen a huge increase in the number of families contacting us for emergency food parcels. This is due to a number of reasons including zero hour contracts where people can't rely on consistent hours of work, or delays in receiving benefit payments.  

Our annual Can-Can appeal helps ensure we’re able to support anyone who finds themselves in a position where they can’t afford to feed themselves and / or their family.  

“As our drop off point is just near Tesco this year we’re asking people if they can buy an extra can or packet which can be as little as 25p.”   

The  Can-Can appeal is just one way The Salvation Army supports the local community and its Christmas toy appeal will be back in November.   

Nicola McCabe, Marketing Manager at intu Victoria Centre said: “At intu Victoria Centre we’re keen to support organisations which help local people and we greatly admire the work undertaken by The Salvation Army in our area.  

Its ability to provide emergency food parcels and support to local people who are struggling is so valuable. As a result we’re committed to help encourage as many donations as possible to the Can-Can appeal.”   The food and money received from The Salvation Army will be used to support vulnerable people from its Memorial Complex centre in the City Centre.