A Plea!

 

Christmas food list:

Any tinned meats

Mince pies & custards

Christmas cakes (small to medium please)

Christmas puddings (small to medium please)

Biscuits – we are happy to receive boxes of biscuits but actually packets of biscuits are better to distribute

Children’s selection boxes

Chocolates – again we are happy to receive boxes but we can distribute them better if we receive small to medium boxes or single bars.

Any snacks and nibbles

And lastly for the children  Christmas crackers!   

 

Subject: plea
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2014

Dear all

I came across an unsettling situation the other day which I’ve been carrying around with me all week and I thought that I would share it with you. 

I drive past a house every day and it presents itself as a neat little home, well-tended and looked after by its owners.  Nothing wrong with that except one morning I see that the front door has been bashed in.  Later on during the week somebody tells me that the person within had a visit from the Bailiff and that they had carted away many items of value leaving the householder on the doorstep distraught.  How fragile are some people’s lives.

I’ve passed this house for many years and never once thought that this might happen. You see it happening on the telly and the given impression is that it’s only in the big cities.  We’re far removed from it and therefore it doesn’t concern us.  It’s certainly not within our community!!  But, the reality is that it is here in our community that people are experiencing difficulties and for some the ultimate reality is the bailiff will come calling.  For many of us we will only ever get to see this type of situation if it unfolds in front of us.

Debt, a sum of money that is owed or due (owing money, in arrears, behind with payments, late with payments, overdue with payments, overdrawn; ) is becoming one of the biggest issues facing the 21^st century, we’re bombarded with information to buy, buy, buy, and for some this temptation is just too great.  We then add to the mix Christmas.  It is possibly one of the most painful times for families who are on a low income.  Every family wants to have a really lovely Christmas with presents under the tree for the children and food on the table.  If you are on a low income this is something very difficult to achieve and can in some cases result in debt trying to achieve it.

Many people who come to the Foodbank are working zero hours contracts, they don’t know from day to day if they have work.  One man we have works 4 different part time jobs to keep his family going, during the year he lost one of these jobs so he had to rely on the Foodbank until he could find another part time job to replace it.  People are made redundant, they might get an unexpected bill which they cannot afford, they get sick; many companies don’t have a sickness policy which means you first have to self-certify before Statutory Sick Pay can kick in.  This all takes time and when you don’t have much in the cupboard for some it’s just simply too long. Then food prices start to rise!

Do you know that statistics say that there are over 13 million people in the UK are living below the poverty line and that 330,000+ are children!!!!

To try alleviate some of the worry and debt that some people will face over the Christmas period we would like to offer a lovely Christmas food parcel. The parcel will have the normal food items that go out during the year but we would like to put in a few surprises, a Christmas cracker or two for the family boxes, a Christmas cake, some mince pies, or perhaps some nuts and cheesy treats etc.  Some of the items that we thought would be nice to have are listed below.  If you feel in your heart that you would like to give a item on the list please put your donations into any of the Foodbank collection bins in the Co-op, Morrisons or Tesco’s.  The local churches also have collection bins.  If however you would like to personally drop off your donation, please pop into to see at the Foodbank.  We are open on a Tuesday and Thursday from 10 – 12 o’clock.

I look forward to seeing you and thank you.

Gail Del-Pinto