Community grocery surprised with donation

For Random Acts of Kindness Day, local homebuilder Miller Homes has set out to spread compassion by donating food supplies to a number of charities and community kitchens across the North West including The Edge Community Grocery in Wigan.

Development Sales Manager Jo Murray visited the community grocery to drop off the donation made by the Miller Homes team and saw the fantastic work the store is doing to keep local families fed first hand.

It comes as the homebuilder pledged to support a number of similar groups across the region, in honour of showing kindness, but also appreciating and respecting the kindness shown by others too, who help run these operations.

Community Groceries was founded by The Message Trust after the first lockdown in 2020, after seeing first-hand how families were finding it hard to put food on the table. In 2021, The Message partnered with Way Church to open the store in Wigan and has been helping thousands of local families ever since.

Open to anyone locally the store acts as a bridge between foodbanks and supermarkets and is there to support those who would otherwise go hungry. Local people can sign up for a Community Grocery membership for just £5 annually, giving them access to multiple shops each week for just £4 per visit. Members can come and shop for their whole family at the grocery, giving them access to food for less and helping us all reduce food waste in the process.

The builder provided the Community Grocery in Wigan with a number of essential and in-demand items including 16 litres of UHT milk, a large range of rice, pasta, tinned meat, and soups, along with 8 litres of fruit juice and fresh loaves of bread too.

Emily Olurankinse, Manager at The Edge Community Grocery, Wigan commented: “We want to thank Miller Homes for reaching out to us and for their fantastic surprise donation of food items.  It’s a random act of kindness that will support so many people around Wigan, as well as our organisation.”

Clare Noakes, Miller Homes’ Sales Director for the North West, added: “This day is always a great opportunity for us at Miller Homes to use our resources for the greater good and to support the community.”

Miller Homes’ development in the Ashton-in-Makerfield area, Eston View consists of 3- to-4-bedroom homes and apartments, all of which are sustainably built and feature spaces for home working and flexible living. It was found in 2022 that new homes such as these can save up to £2.6k on energy bills as opposed to older builds, according to the NHBC.