We are pleased to announce that the Peepul Centre is one of 100 charities to be awarded a £100,000 donation by Barclays.
Barclays £100m COVID-19 Community Aid Package is supporting charities that are helping vulnerable people impacted by COVID-19, and the associated social and economic hardship caused by the crisis.
Nigel Higgins, Barclays Chairman, said: “COVID-19 has created an unprecedented social and economic impact in the UK, with many experiencing greater hardship due to the crisis. Incredible charities, such as Belgrave Baheno Peepul Centre have been playing a vital role in the UK’s response to the pandemic, ensuring urgent help reaches those most in need of support. As a bank we have been doing all we can for our customers, clients and colleagues, and we hope that by partnering with Belgrave Baheno Peepul Centre and many other charities across the UK, collectively we can ensure that as many people as possible in the communities in which we live and work are supported through this crisis.”
Since the start of the first Government lockdown in March 2020 our Chair, Anil Bhanot, was adamant that we must do everything possible to help those most in need amongst our local community of Belgrave as well as the rest of Leicester. He decided that the best we could do was use our existing expertise whilst closed to the public; thus, Peepul Meals was born. The teams from our various departments came together to try and alleviate the needs of the most vulnerable as well as support keyworkers during this extremely difficult time. Our restaurant was to make food, our events team would coordinate, the fitness team would lead on nutritional advise and run fitness sessions, whilst everyone else chipped in to ensure that we could get cooked meals for as many people as possible. By providing restaurant quality food we were not only feeding people but also giving them something to look forward to and showing them how much we valued their wellbeing.
Almost a year later and our service is still very much in demand; thanks to this donation from Barclays we will be able to continue supporting people through the rest of winter and into the spring; expanding our level of provision and introducing new elements to the programme such as tailored fitness sessions to help those who have been unable to remain active during the last year regain levels of fitness.
Anil Bhanot, Peepul Centre Chairman, said: we couldn’t be more grateful to Barclays for their kind and generous award entrusting us to deliver wholesome and nutritious meals coupled with online fitness. Our management team and staff are excited to build on this wonderful project for the local communities.