This week we are particularly short of these items. we would appreciate any donations of goods that you can spare.

To donate goods the Church is open every Friday (including school holidays) between 10.30 - 11.30am
we try our best to get everything that may be needed. 
Alternatively you are most welcome to make a monetary donation. If you want to donate the bank details are: Hayes Community Food Bank: 20-18-93 A/C 23568946

Our continued thanks to everyone who donates to the Food bank

News from the Food bank
I think it would be fair to say that all of us, over the years, have had a fight with packaging around a product we've purchased. My particular gripe has always been with toothbrushes - the tight plastic surrounding the brush has always been so hard to pierce and there is so much plastic compared with a relatively small brush head.
This issue has really hit me since volunteering at the food bank. Each week we receive deliveries from Fare Share - the volume of which has increased considerably because we now have a new volunteer affectionately known as 'man with a van'. Because he has a large transit, we can now take far more goodies from Fare Share than we could when it was the family car doing the collection.
One driver will collect packs of 48 tins of various soups/veg/ tinned fish/corned beef which are held together in cardboard bases and encased in sturdy plastic wrapping. We put these to one side until we go to the church on Monday to sort these and the other donations delivered on the Friday.

We can be confronted with roughly 30+ trays of tins, which we use to restock our shelved. The regular cry is 'who's got scissors' in order to get into the packaging and then we will fill a couple of black sacks with the plastic and make a pile of the cardboard. I do think a number of manufacturers have taken on board recycling issues - the cardboard is minimal and easily torn apart. Others however need the strength of Hercules to deconstruct their boxes and a cry will go out 'help, I'm having a fight with a cardboard box!.
Someone will take the black sack of plastic home to put in their domestic bin but the cardboard needs to be taken to paper/cardboard recycling bin. We try to use the ones in Haye station car park, but these are regularly full - and overflowing - so we take it straight to the dump.
As part of our work with the Food Bank we are aware of the recycling issues. Our perception is that manufacturers are getting better but there is still a long way to go
One item we would desperately like to recycle for you is plastic bags. When we've put together the items we want delivered to a particular family we then bag them up and put the family label onto the bag. Due to the increase in number of families we are now helping, we are getting through our bags at an extraordinary rate. If you have a pile of bags you no longer need please may we have them - they are as valuable as a tin of beans or a jar of pasta.  
Our donations have been somewhat depleted over the last couple of weeks so an extra jar of jam, tin of sweetcorn or bag of rice in your shopping basket that then found its way to the 
Food Bank would be hugely appreciated. If you can't get to the shops financial donations are always welcome - our bank details are HAYES COMMUNITY FOOD BANK; 20-18-93; A/C 23568946.

Teresa and the team.