A DARLINGTON-BASED company has handed over £1,500 worth of hampers to two food banks, as well as making other end of year donations to charities on behalf of its customers.

Each year, as part of its corporate social responsibility programme, Eton Environmental Group supports a range of charities, either via direct donations or through events such as charity football and golf days.

Last year, with figures revealing that Covid-19 has driven almost 700,000 people into poverty in the UK, the health and safety building compliance company concentrated its efforts on helping those most in need.

It put together food hampers which were donated to Middlesbrough Food Bank and Erdington Food Bank in Birmingham and which have a value of £750 each.

In addition, Eton donated a further £900 worth of gift hampers to the Middlesbrough Food Bank to distribute to families.

The gift hampers contain items which will appeal to children, such as a selection box, pencils, reindeer dust, marshmallows, fluffy socks, and gloves.

Eton also asked its current customers if they could make a donation on their behalf and this has led to money being sent to Martin House Hospice, The Benjamin Foundation, Mencap and Macmillan Cancer Care – a total of about £4,000.

Eton environmental group director Joanna Shaefer said: “After the year everyone has had, we felt there was never a more important time to reach out to help those who have particularly suffered as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We were fortunate to be in the position of being able to continue operating throughout the pandemic, albeit in a Covid-19 secure way, so this was about giving something back to the communities we operate in.

“Middlesbrough is a place close to our hearts as many of us are either originally from the town or still live there, so it’s nice to be able to support a charity in the area by donating food and small gifts for local children.

“Whilst our head office is in Darlington, we operate nationally and therefore wanted to support another food bank, so we chose Erdington because we also have an office in Birmingham.

“Hopefully, it will be enough to help people as we move into 2021.”