FEATURED | A partnership with the passion for tackling food poverty in Herefordshire

Top local fintech, allpay Limited, has teamed up with The Living Room to support a full-time member of stafffor the next twelve months allowing the charity to focus their efforts on providing food and essential services to the local community.

The charity aims to help those on low incomes, experiencing isolation, who are lacking in support.Launched as a café for members of the public, the proceeds go towards a community larder, training, peer support groups, counselling and mediation services.

COVID-19 delayed the official opening and as a result, this year has been used to offer emergency food packages for those most in need.

As one of Herefordshire’s largest employers, allpay quickly noticed the valuable work The Living Room wasable to offer as a grassroots organisation that has developed organically responding to the needs of the community and is delighted to offer its full support to help it reach more individuals.

The partnership began with allpay offering help todistribute free school meals and the opportunity tosupport a full-time member of staff has meant the charity can now expand their offerings quicker, supporting more families and children.

Melanie Groves, organiser of The Living Room said:

“The support from allpay is a lifeline for The Living Room in what had been one of the most difficult years ever to start a project. 

It will enable us to continue the work we do with our first paid staff member. We will be able to now concentrate on developing the community space which is a much needed resource in our city centre.

Thank you from The Living Room team and the people of Herefordshire.”

Tony Killeen, managing director of allpay said:

“In October we approached The Living Room after hearing about the incredible work Mel and her team do to support our local community. They kindly invited us to the café to see for ourselves the difference they canmake. After helping pack and deliver food during the school holidays we realised we could do more. We are privileged to be in a position to be able to support them financially to help the organisation grow and support more people who need help.

We also want to use our payment solutions to help with the collection of donations for The Living Room and other charities. We are pleased and proud to be working with such an important charity.”

2020 has been a challenging year for Herefordshire residents with allpay previously offering their award-winning prepaid card solution to residents who were impacted by the floods in February and then later supported councils across the UK to disburseemergency funds to those impacted by COVID-19. 

The Living Room is looking for volunteers and isaccepting non-perishable food and toiletries. More information can be found at www.allpay.net/thelivingroom.