Walking Bus
Bel UK rewarded by the Food and Drink Federation's Community Partnership Awards for its “Walking Bus” CSR initiative
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Bel UK: Bronze winner 2010 Community Partnership Awards in the “ Local Community” category
On 19 October 2010, for the ninth year, the Food and Drink Federation - which is the voice of the UK food and drink industry – celebrated the Federation's Community Partnership Awards which recognize the contribution that the UK food and drink sector makes to the many different communities in which it operates.
This Awards celebration aims at demonstrating how companies in this sector are having a positive impact on the many communities they engage with. Be it via sports activities for young children, employee health and wellbeing initiatives or environmental management programmes.
Bel UK awarded for an initiative in the “Local Community” category: The Walking Bus
This category recognizes the contributions a company can make to the welfare of its immediate local community. The Bel UK “Walking Bus” initiative
For Bel UK, the involvement with Kent and Medway Charity Team's 'Walk to School' initiative was a way of getting involved with a scheme that was very much at the heart of their local community in Kent.
Most Bel UK staff live in the area and not only does 'Walk to School' have positive environmental and health impacts, it also helps children develop vital road safety skills and delivers an old fashioned sense of community and values in a modern context.
'Walk to School' involves volunteers 'driving' a 'walking bus' of children to school each day. To date, over 40,000 children have been involved. The scheme has dramatically reduced the number of car journeys in Kent by 200,000 per year - bringing significant environmental benefit. Critically, it also encourages the development of enduring life skills and behaviors for young children, such as taking some exercise daily and learning practical skills such as road safety.
Bel UK is a key sponsor for the scheme, enabling the charity to pursue its vision of developing a new healthy lifestyles website with video support, to help extend it's messaging to new audiences, a project that would not have been possible without Bel's support.
Bel UK is the Kent-based subsidiary of the Bel Group, whose cheese range includes Mini Babybel, The Laughing Cow, Leerdammer, Boursin and Port Salut.
To know more on Bel UK: www.bel-uk.co.uk/
To know more on the Food and Drink Federation: http://www.fdf.org.uk
