Tonne of Cheese for the Community

South Caernarfon Creameries has donated over a tonne of its award-winning Welsh cheese worth £10,000 to foods banks and community schemes across Gwynedd and Anglesey.

South Caernarfon Creameries has donated over a tonne of its award-winning Welsh cheese worth £10,000 to foods banks and community schemes across Gwynedd and Anglesey. In total 5,000 packs of our 220g grated Dragon Mild Cheddar will be distributed to help families that need it the most.

We collect milk from 135 farmer members throughout North and Mid Wales and have continued to produce our Welsh cheeses and butter throughout the Covid-19 pandemic in order to help feed the nation.

The Company structure is quite unique in that its wholly owned by Welsh farmer-co-operative and one of the key objectives is to ensure that we contribute as much as we possibly can to the local communities.

The Managing Director said, “I know a few people that are involved in the running of local food banks and of the demands being put upon them at this difficult time and it made me think about how we could support them. These are challenging times for everyone but especially for those who are struggling to put food on the table for their families. We felt that we could make a difference by providing 5,000 packs of our Dragon grated cheese which can be used as a key ingredient for many nutritious family meals. Food Banks provide an invaluable service across all parts of the country and we thank all of the volunteers who continue to help those that need it the most.”

The cheese will also be included in community ‘meals on wheels’ services in Gwynedd and in free lunch boxes being delivered to vulnerable people across Anglesey and Gwynedd through the ‘Cynllun Neges’ project run by Dylan's Restaurant and Menter Môn.

Cheryl Bullard, whose husband, Gwynedd County Councillor for Pwllheli North, Dylan, helped set up the food bank in the town, said: “South Caernarfon Creameries have been very generous – they have already donated cheese and biscuits to us at Pwllheli. Now, this is a great gesture for the whole area and cheese is such a versatile and healthy food that is locally produced and of high quality. It’s nice to see so many people pulling together in this crisis because since Covid-19 we’ve been busier than ever before. We’ve had lots of families coming to us because they are struggling and we know there are still many people out there who are in difficulty.”

Marian Wyn Jones, a project support officer with Gwynedd Council, said: “I have been contacting businesses in Gwynedd to see if they had stock to donate to the food banks and South Caernarfon Creameries got in touch with me to see if they could cover more than just Gwynedd. They promised us five thousand packs of cheese - it was lucky I was sitting down because I might have keeled over. It was a fantastic offer and it will go to our food banks. They are doing an amazing job because demand has increased so much lately because of Covid-19 and there is a lot of pressure on them. This will be shared amongst the 10 food banks across Gwynedd and with various community schemes and Cynllun Neges. Cheese is such a versatile food and it has nutritional value too so I have to say a heartfelt thanks to SCC.”

For more information on Dragon cheese go to https://dragonwales.co.uk/