In times like this, there is always an urge to be helpful and useful. Most of us have limited opportunities, we are in the wrong profession or have the wrong skill set. Just at the moment, one of the most useful things to do is nothing, stay at home and sit it out. However, we in the food industry can be useful, we can carry on churning out food, everyone eats somewhere, we just have to work out the best, most effective and least damaging route to get food to those who need it, (everyone).
At the beginning of the crisis there was a great deal of panic buying, the shops shelves were emptied and those in key roles such as employees of the NHS, apparently, on occasions struggled to access food. Their shifts were long and after a day of caring, with the amazing ethos and values they have in their profession it seemed they were being punished for being brilliant. We at the Meat Box Company near Crediton thought aha! This could be it; we could actually be useful and help the carers, administrators, nurses, cleaners, doctors, porters, medics etc. We could get meat delivered to their homes and shorten their day, reduce the hassle and stress of queuing in socially isolated queues, at the end of long difficult, worrying days.
What could be worse than 12 hours caring for the public, risking catching a frightening virus, only to find some of the public you are caring for have stripped the shelves of the food you need. So, our opportunity to support the NHS was to register with the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital’s internal comms team and offer free delivery and a nice discount to any of their employees. We had no idea how useful it would be, but there has been a good uptake, so the need must have been there. Then, off the back of this we were offered the chance to make the same offer on the national equivalent, within the NHS, so we are very proud to have the opportunity to do a little thing amongst all the other big things that are going on.
The public are watching the NHS’s employees’ extraordinary efforts, and exposure to risks, for themselves and their families. Many of the public are coming up with innovative ways to add value, there is a virtuous circle of inspiration and care. The brilliant thing in society is the team spirit that can be fostered by a crisis and the innovation that it inspires. The inspiration for this generation could well be the unselfish acts we are seeing. What could be more generous and unselfish than day after day, going to a stressful job to work long shifts at hightened personal risk as part of a team to care for the health of a nation?
We hope our meat boxes, delivery charge free, and discounted, to any NHS workers that order them, is a little bit of a help to them and a thank you from the employees of The Meat Box Company.