Global online interiors company, Amara, has donated the food from its staff Christmas party to local charities.
The party, booked for over 100 Amara staff members, was due to take place at Hedingham Castle in Halstead in mid-December.
However, due to Covid-19 cases rising and the prevalence of the new variant Omnicron, the company made the last-minute decision to reschedule the party to next year, for the safety of their staff. At such close proximity to the event, all the food had already been ordered and received at the caterers and would have otherwise gone to waste.
At the suggestion of Sally Kerr, owner of Splinters Outside Catering in Bulmer, Amara were very pleased to donate the now-redundant party food to charity, including fresh turkey breasts, braising steak, salmon and cheeses.
The food was distributed to the Colchester Women’s Refuge and a local food bank through local community interest group, Colchester Anti Loo Roll Brigade. Originally set up by Peter Dutch as a response to the panic buying during the early days of the Covid 19 pandemic; the Anti Loo Roll Brigade had the initial aim of setting up a support network for those who needed help to get through lockdown.
“We were obviously disappointed to cancel the Amara Christmas party this year, but we decided it was the right thing to do given all the information at our disposal. We were determined not to waste all the food that had already been supplied, so decided to donate it to charity, which is being distributed to local food banks and refuge centres so at least some good can come from a difficult situation,†said Amara’s CEO Andrew Hood.
