- 111, Pickhurst Lane
- Hayes
- Bromley
- KENT
- BR2 7HU
News from the Foodbank
HAYES COMMUNITY FOOD BANK: Registered Charity 1198866
Account details (Co-op Bank):
Hayes Community Foodbank Kent; 08-92-99; 67307296.
A couple of years ago I wrote about a very anxious chicken run we had experienced trying to find sufficient “in date” chickens for all our families. Never again we declared, and so since then we have restricted our Christmas hamper foods to non-perishables.
We started collecting mince pies, stuffing, savoury biscuits and similar at the start of November and by early December the small vestry at the back of the hall was overflowing with Christmas goodies.
Distribution of the special hampers was really well organised, and we targeted different families over the weeks leading up to Christmas.
In the end we sent out over 525 mince pies, at least 50 tubs of chocolates, 22,000ml of cranberry sauce and 14,960g of stuffing. And then there were also gravy granules, Christmas puds and cakes plus savoury biscuits.
We staggered the delivery of these hampers because they were going out alongside the normal deliveries, and there are only so many bags the drivers can get into their cars. We have a regular team of 12 drivers but the week before Christmas we had to co-opt 16 folk to help – one said he felt like Father Christmas.
This year we made special deliveries to 47 families which included 90 adults and 61 children. The small vestry is now really quite empty except for 1 large bag of mince pies which because they have quite long “best before” dates will be drip fed out over the next few weeks.
The volunteers that make this happen are amazing and give of their time happily. They enter into the spirit, wearing amazing festive jumpers and Santa hats, whilst the usual Christmasy muzak is playing in the background. Then an email or a card or a verbal message comes in from one of the families thanking everyone for the foods; we had some really lovely messages this year and it reinforces why we are doing this.
Thank you to everyone who supports us, not just at Christmas but throughout the year. Your donations, physical and financial, are so important and needed. Your prayers and encouragement are equally important. THANK YOU.
Teresa and the team