LOCKDOWN LEADER: Ron Dennis
Former owner and CEO McLaren, Ron Dennis, has created a scheme to provide 1 million free meals to NHS workers during the crisis.
The F1 supremo has launched a not-for-profit scheme called SalutetheNHS.org, which will produce free ready-prepared meals for ICU and anaesthetic teams and A&E staff, who aren’t able to leave their posts during 12-hour shifts. The initiative allows key staff to stay close to their wards without having to change in and out of their protective gear.
Dennis says his foundation has put in place a £1.5m budget and joined forces with a number of companies to supply 1,000 meals a day to health workers.
Seed-funded through the Dennis’s Dream Chasing Foundation, and co-ordinated with NHS Charities Together, the group gathering all the NHS charities under one umbrella, the huge operation utilises the expertise of various leaders in nutrition, packaging and logistics, among other areas. One of the UK’s biggest catering groups Absolute Taste will supply their state-of-the-art kitchen in Oxfordshire, while parcel delivery service Yodel are to sort out the logistics. Meanwhile, Tesco will donate the dishes, such as lean beef chilli with veggie rice or Keralan veggie curry with wholegrain rice.
The one million meals are known as ‘Boost Packs’, which hospital staff can eat during working hours or take home at the end of their shifts. ‘Home Packs’ will also be delivered to infected and self-isolating NHS workers. Meals will initially be sent out from the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, then Great Ormond Street hospital, and then targeted UK locations.
“This is a time when all of us, individuals and businesses alike, need to stand up and be counted in the effort to combat COVID-19,” said Dennis. Added Ellie Orton, Chief Executive of NHS Charities Together, “We particularly love the thank you notes in each food pack demonstrating to NHS staff how grateful we all are.”