House of no bread as shipment of Cumbernauld loaves sent away by supermarket giant

Norma Cowan, manager of the Bethlehem House of Bread food bank based at Cumbernauld church Cornerstone House, was contacted by distribution firm Benfleet to say that France-based bread manufacturer Maison Menissez wanted to donate a pallet containing 800 packets of part-baked petit pains.

“We were told that this bread would be available to collect from the Morrisons distribution depot in Bellshill,” said Norma.

Several emails were exchanged between Norma, Benfleet and Maison Menissez, and on Monday the food bank volunteers went to Bellshill hoping to return with hundreds of loaves to give to people in need in the Cumbernauld area.

“We hired a van specifically for this collection and went to Bellshill to pick up our bread, only to find it was gone,” added Norma.

“We were told that the bread had been sent to a food bank in England as this was Morrisons company policy.

“I think the customers of these supermarkets will be interested to learn that food is being sent to food banks in England when it is needed here.”

A Morrisons spokeswoman said that the bread had been moved on because nobody in the depot was aware it was intended for Cornerstone.

Morrisons has now offered to donate a new shipment of bread to Cornerstone and reimburse the cost of the van hire.

The supermarket chain is also rolling out a programme to donate unsold food from its 500 branches across the UK to community organisations.

Bethlehem House of Bread is currently organising a collection on behalf of Glasgow the Caring City to help Syrian refugees. This will take place at Cornerstone House in Cumbernauld Town Centre on November 25 from 4pm to 7pm. They are requesting donations in the form of clothes and shoes only and all items collected will be passed to Glasgow the Caring City.