Dave Jones, of D Jones Quality Butchers in Dewsbury, may not be a household name to you but he sure has lit up Twitter and Facebook with his recent announcement! The local business owner knew there was a lot at stake when he recently posted an opportunity for struggling families to get in touch as he is planning a day trip to Bridlington.
He came up with the idea after chatting with families in his shop on St Peter’s Parade and realising that “not everyone gets a holiday”. He put out on social media for struggling families in West Yorkshire to get in touch as he was offering a family day to the seaside. He was willing to charter a coach on his own, serve packed lunches and refreshments in hopes just to get a few kids to the coast for the day. “I just came up with the idea and I thought I’ll ask the Twitter and Facebook community and see what kind of response I’d get. I thought I was going to only get families responding saying they wanted to go. Instead I had a mixture of families responding and a lot of others saying they really wanted to help out! It was incredible!”
This isn’t the first time Dave Jones has offered to help struggling families. Apparently kindness is in his DNA. The butcher has received praise from the local community as he is known for his random acts of kindness. Last October Half-Term, Dave, unwittingly, started his own Food Bank where he helped out families and the elderly with free parcels of meat and over the Christmas period he gave away meat, fruit and vegetable hampers to 30 families.
With regards to his family day to the seaside, response on Twitter, Facebook and private donations has been overwhelming! One benefactor came forward offering to pay for the coach. A Subway in Stairfoot has offered to donate sandwiches; others have offered to donate snacks and still others buckets and spades for the kids. A ‘GoFundMe’ account has been opened and within hours almost £1,000 was raised. Dave now has over 12,000 followers on twitter. For Dave Jones and his charitable actions, the message is getting out!
So far Dave has two coaches booked to go to the seaside in early June and is hoping he might even be able to afford a third coach soon! “It would be amazing to get this started and make it an annual trip for the kids. My vision was to help out a few families who might not get the coast this year. I never imagined it would get this big!”
When asked why he is helping those less fortunate, Dave says “I’m just absolutely delighted to able to help families!” For one butcher in Dewsbury, you can’t help but say; “Well Done!”
If you would like to donate to Dave Jones’s Bridlington Day Out, the GoFundMe page is at: www.gofundme.com
Or contact Dave at D Jones Butchers on 01924-465-902.
