When Goods For Good launched our Humanitarian Aid Partnership a year ago (May 2022) we were delighted to welcome The Dune Group as a founding partner. But the relationship with Dune Group pre-dates the launch, going back as far as 2017. In this short account, Founder and CEO of Goods For Good, Rosalind Bluestone MBE reflects on the partnership and what it means to her.
Having previously worked with Founder, Daniel Rubin, I reached out to him when I first started Goods For Good in 2014. At the time I was running the charity single-handedly, with only the support of volunteers and a Board of Trustees and I needed advice about the challenges I was facing running a small charity, particularly with logistics.
From the initial conversation six years ago (2017), with the then warehouse manager, Andy Taylor, the team at The Dune Group have gone above and beyond to support Goods For Good; offering logistics support as well as storage space at their warehouse in Leicester. The Dune team has undertaken a massive task on our behalf, sharing the load with us, over these years. Their wonderful support has always been very important to me personally and has enabled us to succeed in our mission of reaching vulnerable people all around the world. Quite simply, we couldn't have managed our overseas operation without their support!
The team at The Dune Group put their hearts into supporting our work, whether that's collecting goods from other retailers/suppliers, or labelling and weighing goods for us to deliver, they have enabled us to collect enough goods to fill 40’ loads at their warehouse. To put that in perspective, that’s approximately £250,000 worth of goods they’ve helped us deliver to individuals and families in need.
They always go above and beyond to support us. During Covid, I recall their warehouse manager came down himself to deliver ladies hygiene goods to us, that he was storing for an export delivery. He went the extra mile for us to ensure we received what was desperately needed in what was a very difficult period in our history as we navigated the challenges of the pandemic. And their support doesn't stop there, they also donate goods for us to resell via our eBay shop. These donations have helped us raise over £30k, enabling us to continue our vital work.
We are very proud to support Goods for Good. I am particularly impressed with how Goods for Good has managed, with such a small team, to cut through the bureaucracy and get goods directly to those who are in need. It is an outstanding achievement.
Daniel Rubin, Founder of The Dune Group
Since the charity was set up in 2014 Goods For Good has delivered almost £50 million-worth of humanitarian aid to over 4.3 million people. Every month we support an average of 5,000 people living in abject poverty and often tragic circumstances. Some of these people have been affected by war, domestic abuse, modern slavery and human trafficking, so the goods we deliver really do provide a life-line of support. Our relationship with The Dune Group means we have been able to deliver essential aid to over 2.3million people internationally, including countries like Moldova, which is considered one of the poorest countries in Europe. With their support we have been able to reach people like Yulia and her mother Nina.
Daniel Rubin, Founder of The Dune Group said, "We are very proud to support Goods for Good. We have worked with Rosalind since 2017 and have seen how she has built such an impressive, yet low cost, operation, delivering over £43m of essential goods to those who have suffered from tragedy and deprivation. I am particularly impressed with how Goods for Good has managed, with such a small team, to cut through the bureaucracy and get goods directly to those who are in need. It is an outstanding achievement which makes Rosalind a very worthy recipient of the MBE."
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Email: naomi@goodsforgood.org.uk
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