My volunteer journey: Richard Williams, IT Systems Administrator
At Trustonic, we’re extremely proud of the efforts our team members make to create positive impact – both in and out of the office – which is why we make it our mission to champion and support their volunteering activities.
On the 16th of October 2023, our IT Systems Administrator, Richard Williams, headed to Campbell Park in central Milton Keynes, with boxes and boxes of canned food in hand. It was all part of the MK Food Bank’s ‘MK Can’ initiative to break the Guinness World Record for the longest line of tinned food ever made.
With the strain on UK foodbanks increasing by almost 40% last year, the event organisers hoped the initiative would help them to meet the growing needs of local people. Sights were set high at 50% of all the cans they would need for an entire year, but – having supported around one in 30 Milton Keynes households over the last 18 months –The MK Food Bank was in desperate need of such large-scale help.
So, when Richard and his team from MK Biergarten – a local micropub that specialises craft beers –heard about the initiative, they pulled together as a community to collect a grand total of 815 donated cans. Patrons, family members and friends were all asked to contribute whatever they could, with the crates the team collected then being brought to the exciting event, in the hope of collectively breaking the previous 2014 world record of 44,966 cans in a row.
Trustonic has been lucky enough to work with Richard for the past eight years, benefitting from his lifelong interest in coding. In fact, boasting a computer science degree and almost three decades of professional experience, Richard has been programming since the tender age of 12 – making him nothing short of an industry expert. And if that wasn’t impressive enough, outside of work and volunteering, Richard also plays the guitar.
Together with his hard-working team, Richard placed the cans one by one along the pathway travelling through the park – their section being joined to the donations of neighbouring teams and volunteers.
After much hard work and toil, the official adjudicator from the Guinness Book of World Records made an appearance – apprehension palpable in the air as he counted the cans, briefcase in hand and dressed in a suit. The mood soon lightened, however, when it was announced that the event had, quite literally become a record-breaking success!
Having received almost 102,500 cans, the MK Food Bank now had enough food to see the families it serves safely through the winter. Richard was so happy to hear the news that he even volunteered to perform a small set on stage, entertaining the crowd with his guitar.
We’re incredibly proud of Richard’s efforts and look forward to sharing more insight into Trustonic’s team members and the causes they care about.
