![\"\"](\"http:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/InvictaNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/m-co-hempstead-valley-google-street-view_orig-1024x592.png\")
<\/a>Gavin started posting on community groups when panic-buying started during the first lockdown. Basics like flour, eggs and toilet roll were in high demand and many vulnerable shoppers couldn\u2019t risk going out shopping if they were uncertain necessities were in stock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gavin posts regularly, giving near-daily updates on the store, despite it not being in his job description.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had to let people know that I wasn\u2019t the boss. I\u2019m just a general employee who goes and does it because I want to help people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Times have been tough for all supermarkets during the pandemic, and Sainsbury\u2019s is no exception. With the strain of supply chains and enforcing COVID-friendly restrictions, supermarket staff are under a lot of pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s been very unnerving because a lot of people weren\u2019t taking any notice of the two-metre distance or sanitising their hands at the front door,\u201d Gavin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the difficulties, shoppers have been keen to praise Gavin\u2019s work to friends on social media, and to Gavin\u2019s boss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA lot of the community have written in to Sainsburys head office to say how much they appreciate what I\u2019m doing and how they\u2019re more informed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gavin has strengthened relationships with his store and the surrounding community, at a time when we could all use some help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By posting regularly on local community groups on Facebook, Gavin has helped a lot of people stay informed, and stay a bit safer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember to follow #sainsbosgavla for inside information at your Sainsbury\u2019s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Food retailers have been the second front-line of the pandemic, working non-stop for the last year to keep the country well-fed and minimise the risk of transmission. Gavin Baker, an employee in the produce section of Hempstead Sainsbury\u2019s, has been…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":{"x":"0.20","y":"0.22"}},"categories":[7,29],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/InvictaNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1534"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/InvictaNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/InvictaNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/InvictaNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/InvictaNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1534"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/InvictaNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1542,"href":"https:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/InvictaNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1534\/revisions\/1542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/InvictaNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/InvictaNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/InvictaNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/InvictaNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/InvictaNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Sainsburys-GavinPost-657x1024.jpg\")