A LOCAL food bank has benefited from a site wide collection of foodstuffs from staff and contractors during Pembroke Refinery’s annual Spring Food Appeal.

the Pembroke workforce joined with employees across Valero’s global operations to mark ‘Valero Volunteer Week’.

Each year Valero volunteers in the UK and Ireland, Canada and the US contribute tens of thousands of volunteer hours to charities and community groups in their communities, with more than 153,000 hours recorded in 2017.

At Pembroke Refinery, personnel were asked to donate food parcels for local charity Pembrokeshire Action to Combat Hardship (PATCH), and hundreds of people across site responded by donating tinned meat, vegetables and fruit as well as dried foods like pasta and cereal to help those in need in the local community. Some departments organised their own collections, with special mention for the Document Control team who succeeded in collecting nearly £1,000 worth of food from across the Technical Department.

Refinery Public Affairs Manager Stephen Thornton, speaking after the food collection, said: “Helping our local communities is at the heart of Valero’s values, and we have been delighted that so many people across our workforce have enthusiastically backed our annual Spring Food Appeal for PATCH once again, especially as it goes towards helping disadvantaged people locally.”

Tracy Olin from PATCH, said: “We are once again incredibly grateful for the help provided to us by Pembroke Refinery. The workforce at the refinery are always so generous and we couldn’t support the many people in need without the help of companies like Valero.”