As the war in Ukraine continues to result in food shortages throughout the country, ASR Group’s collaborative crisis relief efforts in the U.K. are helping provide Ukrainian families with our Tate & Lyle® Sugar.
This spring, our company Tate & Lyle Sugars donated 23 pallets of granulated sugar to His Church, a food bank and charity that redistributes donated foods and supplies to vulnerable populations around the globe in times of crisis. Through their “Operation Manna 2022” relief campaign, His Church is working with major retailers, manufacturers and logistics companies to route donations of supplies and staple food products, including our sugar, to displaced families in Ukraine. The pallets donated to His Church were delivered directly by the organization to a distribution center located between the cities of Lviv and Kyiv, from which they will be distributed by van to the areas of highest need.
“Our team got this donation turned around in just 24 hours,” said Paul Davidson, Sr. Director of Quality Management – Europe. “From the warehouse and Supply Chain through to Quality, everyone pitched in. There was so much good will to get this done, and it was incredible to see it come together so quickly.”
We also donated a truckload of sugar to one of our transport suppliers, Coltons, whose drivers drove it free of charge to help get our product to Ukrainian families in need. The family business, with the support of its customer base, was able to fill two trailers of aid.
“It’s been heartbreaking to see what has been happening to the innocent people of Ukraine,” said Ben Wilson, Head of Planning, Global Supply Chain. “When Coltons called me about their idea of running a humanitarian aid mission, I knew our U.K. Supply Chain team had to make sure that this important delivery was delivered ‘on time and in full.’”
The donation was delivered to the Polish tourist board, which was making regular deliveries into Ukraine using coaches they would normally use for their tourism operations. The coaches were subsequently used to bring refugees back into Poland.
Our product eventually made it to Zhytomyr, which is about 150 km from Kyiv and suffered Russian shelling and missile attacks.
“Our collaborations with His Church and Coltons demonstrate the good that can be done when businesses and charities work together toward a common goal,” said Paul. “We had the product, and both His Church and Coltons had the routes and means to transport our donation. We were happy to work with them to deliver our staple food product to families in Ukraine.”