As a proud Hospitality Action Ambassador, I thought I knew all there was to know about Hospitality Action, but in the inaugural Ambassadors Briefing even I came away having learnt a thing or two.

For instance, did you know?…

  • As the hospitality industry’s benevolent charity, Hospitality Action was originally set up in 1837 (when Queen Victoria came to the throne), which makes it 185 years old next year!
  • Their mission is ‘Making life better. Whatever the challenge, we’ve got you’.
  • Since March 2020 and the start of the pandemic they have: spent £1.78m, awarded grants to over 6,000 households, supported 3,0000 industry retirees and their partners, recruited 273 telephone support volunteers, and developed a dedicated online wellbeing hub – impressive stuff!
  • Hell & Back (of which I am proud to say jellybean was a key sponsor and participant, read more here) was the single biggest fundraising event in Hospitality Action’s history raising £181,000!
  • As well as offering much needed financial assistance through a range of grants to those who have worked in the hospitality sector and need additional support (from winter fuel to school uniform, family days out/in, to low-income top-ups and much more) they also offer an Employee Assistance Program that hospitality employers can sign up to and which offers a range of services to help support their team. Find out more here: www.hospitalityaction.org.uk/eap/
  • They run a program called golden friends where you can be buddied up with a retired individual to help fend off loneliness and isolation with regular phone calls.
  • Operators can help raise money for Hospitality Action and reduce food waste at the same time by partnering with Too Good to Go and donating £3 of the £12 value of each bag of food which would have had to be thrown away to HA.
  • Supporting HA can feed into operators’ 17 Sustainability Development Goals. Helping them achieve their goals whilst supporting HA.

It was a great session which featured not only an informative briefing from HA, but also some guest Ambassadors who shared how they have supported Hospitality Action including some of the gems mentioned above.

Simon Numphud, MD of AA Hotel Services, Reena & Henal Chotai, Directors of the Red Cup Café, and Sue Williams, GM of Whatley Manor all shared their stories as stand out supporters. It was fabulous to see the family of ambassadors come together (even if virtually) and was an hour very well spent.

So, what can we all do to help, you ask?

Well, here’s 5 simple things you can do to support Hospitality Action today:

Here’s to the rest of 2021 and a truly standout year for Hospitality Action’s 185th  anniversary in 2022 under the excellent leadership of Mark and supported by a fabulous team. #WeveGotYou