A CHARITY initiative launched last year by former PM Gordon Brown has donated 1.5 million products to 150,000 families.
The Multibank charity was set up in January last year by the former Dunfermline MP, Amazon, the Cottage Family Centre in Kirkcaldy as well as local businesses and suppliers.
The Cottage Family Centre – known locally as the Big Hoose – provides support to families and individuals who are vulnerable to social exclusion as a result of poverty, poor housing, unemployment, relationship breakdown, drug and alcohol problems, or other health-related issues.
Earlier this year The Multibank launched a second site in Greater Manchester, known as “The Brick-by-Brick” project, working with Wigan and Leigh charity, The Brick.
The Multibank operates as a “click and collect” service for over 1,000 local charities and professionals including social workers, teachers and midwives to access goods from a warehouse in Lochgelly to help people in need.
READ MORE: Fife Council backs Big Hoose Initiative with £150,000
The products are donated principally by Amazon, but include support from other businesses including Fishers Laundry, Craig & Rose Paint, Morrisons, The Paint Shed, Blue Earth Clean, the Bell Group, Tesco, SemiChem, Vision, Morrisons, Scotmid, Purvis, PepsiCo, Unilever, Accrol, Kraft Heinz and others.
Speaking this week, Mr Brown said they hope to support even more families in the coming months.
"I thank Amazon for their willingness to experiment with redistributing their returned goods to families in need in Fife via the Cottage Family Centre, whose network and ability to get surplus goods directly to families and children in need is creating a path-breaking new model, where big corporations can do real social good at a grassroots level," he said.
“I’m grateful to Purvis, our own Fife-based warehouse and logistics partners, who donated a warehouse in Lochgelly and in which we have created our first Multibank, as well as our partners in Greater Manchester.
"We look forward to working with the pioneering systems created especially for us by Amazon to scale and speed up our own delivery operation as we seek to reach and support even more families facing another tough winter.”
Simon McMahon, senior programme manager for the Multibank in Amazon UK’s Impact team, is originally from Fife and has overseen the project since its inception.
He added: “The Multibank has grown rapidly since we first started last year. There is no other project like it, offering this type of support to people for free.
"The success of The Multibank has far exceeded our expectations – we’re now supporting over 150,000 families and 1,000 charities and trusted professionals across the two sites in Fife and Wigan.
"But we continue to be ambitious as more charities and businesses join the Multibank coalition in helping those who need it most."
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