H&L has announced it will extend its Shop for Good programme supporting Food For The Poor (FFP) through to December 2022.

Since July 2020, one per cent of sales at hardwareandlumber.com have been donated to the charity to support its mission to provide life-saving food, secure housing, clean water, healthcare, emergency relief, micro-enterprise projects and education.

The extension was recently announced by Marcus Richards, managing director, H&L, during a Food For The Poor community event in Botany Bay, St Thomas, where 150 people received care packages.

“There are many lessons we can learn from Food For The Poor which was forced to increase its operations significantly and rapidly over the last year. One of those lessons is that a better Jamaica doesn’t happen without a robust fight against inequality,” said Richards.

“The FFP team is relentless in its work to create meaningful opportunities for many Jamaicans, and their work needs to be supported.”

Recognising the value of the partnership with H&L, FFP Executive Kivette Silvera said: “When I think about the support from our partners, such as H&L Rapid True Value, apart from being extremely excited, I am also reminded of the quote, ‘Alone we can do so little but together, we can do so much more’. The truth is, whatever impact we make as a charity, it is because we have received help from compassionate donors. That said, we continue to express sincere gratitude to H&L, even as they extend their contribution to the people of Jamaica through the Shop for Good initiative. This is a commendable and highly appreciated partnership.”

The community event was part of H&L’s Giving Day on July 23, which sought to drive grassroots support for Food For The Poor. Customers at H&L Rapid True Value and H&L Agro stores donated to the charity, and H&L doubled its contribution to two per cent of online sales at hardwareandlumber.com.

“It was such a delight to have the team join us for the distribution activity in Botany Bay, which was a further demonstration of H&L’s commitment to making a difference,” Silvera added.

“As we thank H&L and its customers for their generous act of giving, we implore other corporate entities to join us in this fight to uplift the materially poor and renew the poor in spirit.”