Although the catering outlets at the National Trust’s property of Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal are hectic places, staff there are not too busy to also think about people in need. Over the past 18 months, catering staff at this World Heritage Site have been collecting bar codes from Yorkshire Tea to help the Wheelchair Foundation U.K. provide wheelchairs throughout the world to those deprived of mobility by war, disease, accident, natural disaster or advanced age. To date, they have collected enough bar codes to provide eight wheelchairs and a certificate was recently presented to them in recognition of their achievement.
The Wheelchair Foundation has been one of the chosen charities of Rotary International of Great Britain and Ireland since 2006 and the Rotary Club of Ripon have been pleased to support the staff at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal in their efforts for this very worthwhile organisation. Yorkshire Tea is the brew of choice at the Fountains estate and every time a pack of tea is opened, staff have removed and saved the bar code, each of which has a monetary value, which is then redeemed by Yorkshire Tea. But not only have staff always remembered to collect the bar codes, they have also badgered relatives and friends to save their bar codes from any of the product they use at home. Members of Ripon Rotary Club have also collected bar codes from home, friends and family.
Since the Rotary Clubs of Yorkshire supported this charity, in excess of 24,000 brand new, all terrain wheelchairs, each costing £75, have been sent to 21 countries, including 50 provided by Yorkshire Tea.
To quote the words of one recipient who received a wheelchair “Today they gave me back the sun”. Saving a bar code is such a small gesture that produces such a huge result.
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