Amazon will donate hundreds of thousands of products to more than 13,000 families in need of support across Fife in Scotland in 2022. Along with providing a £150,000 grant, Amazon is providing logistics expertise to help create a new project site in Lochgelly, which will work with a coalition of charity partners to deliver essential goods to local families.
The lead charity partner, The Cottage Family Centre, based in Kirkcaldy, provide a range of 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.
Former Prime Minister, Rt Hon Gordon Brown, and Pauline Buchan, Manager of The Cottage Family Centre, are encouraging other charities based in Fife to get involved and help the campaign reach its goal of supporting 13,000 families by the end of the year. Charities can make referrals on behalf of service users for the household goods they require, which will then be processed by the Amazon project team and made available for collection by the charities to be delivered to families.
We are delighted to say that we have already supported 3,500 more families in Fife since starting deliveries at the end of last year, and we look forward to helping many more people in 2022.
“We are committed to supporting the communities that we serve, and are proud to work with The Cottage Family Centre and a coalition of charities in collaboration with former Prime Minister Rt Hon Gordon Brown to help families in need across Fife,” said John Boumphrey, UK Country Manager at Amazon. “Our team in Dunfermline is working side-by-side with the charity partners to fulfil the needs of their service users. As a result, we are delighted to say that we have already supported 3,500 more families in Fife since starting deliveries at the end of last year, and we look forward to helping many more people in 2022.”
All donations are being processed at a new warehouse in Lochgelly, which has been provided free-of-charge by Bob Purvis, Chairman of The Purvis Group, to help facilitate the project. Donated items range from toilet roll, nappies, wipes and toiletries to clothing, backpacks, home furnishings, lightings and electrical products.
Organisations that have collected goods via the coalition so far include Children’s Clothing Bank Dunfermline, Fife Women’s Aid, Kirkcaldy Foodbank, Autism Rocks (Fife), various local Home-Start centres and Fife Alcohol Support Service, along with 10 Fife Council charity sectors across teams such as children and families, social work and young people.
In addition to hundreds of thousands of product donations, Amazon will provide pro-bono volunteers at the charity coalition warehouse until the end of June 2022. The company will also provide senior team oversight who are volunteering from Amazon’s Dunfermline Fulfilment Centre, along with a £150,000 cash grant to support the recruitment, salaries and training of the Lochgelly site staff. Every year, Amazon donates millions of products to more than 2,000 charities and volunteer organisations, and has now donated more than one million products to charities across the UK from its Dunfermline Fulfilment Centre.
Former Prime Minister, Rt Hon Gordon Brown, said, “Communities are at their best when they are working together to make sure everyone is supported. I would like to thank Amazon, The Cottage Family Centre, the coalition of charity partners and the many people working on this project who have created a successful and scalable model which directly reaches those most in need across Fife by donating and delivering thousands of products to them.”
Pauline Buchan, Manager of The Cottage Family Centre, said, “It has been a challenging time for many of our service users, so it’s been a huge boost to work with Amazon and our fellow coalition partners to help so many families in need, and we look forward to continuing our work through the coalition for the rest of 2022. I have seen first-hand the way these donations can make life that little bit easier for people and thank Amazon for its continued commitment to helping the local community.”
Amazon is committed to supporting communities where it operates in Scotland and across the UK. Last year, the company delivered more than 150,000 healthy breakfasts to vulnerable children and schools across Scotland in a partnership with Magic Breakfast. Amazon also recently made a £90,000 donation to sponsor Social Bite’s Community Hub at their Glasgow Village where residents can cook, eat and socialise together, in addition to more than £45,000 in grants to local charities across Scotland.
Read more about Amazon employees supporting communities in Scotland.
