As you know lots of people are being affected by the increase in cost of living and because of that we have seen a huge increase in the number of people needing a little help. We have been very fortunate with grants helping us to buy food, and in the last financial year we have spent over £80,000 on food to help those struggling. Our food parcels are intended to last seven days and contain all the tinned and packaged food you would expect in a food parcel, but also a variety of fresh items including, bread, cheese, eggs, butter, vegetables and fruit. In order to keep the food parcels this well-balanced we continue to spend between £1,500 and £2,000 a week on food, but despite that we are struggling to keep up with demand and so here comes our ask. If you can afford to help us by providing the basics then we would be so very grateful. Each food parcel contains cereal, milk, tea, coffee, sugar, sweetcorn, tuna, pasta sauce, pasta, tinned meat, tinned meals (chilli con carni, spaghetti bolognese, curry, minced meat, pis), tinned peas, tinned carrots, tinned potatoes, soup, spaghetti in tomato sauce, baked beans, biscuits, tinned fruit, tinned or packet custard, and where needed, toiletries and cleaning items (shower gel, shampoo, multi surface cleaner, washing powder/liquid).
We will also shortly be launching a fundraiser with Bankuet, a foodbank app that we use, so keep your eyes peeled for that. This app gives you the opportunity to donate money to help foodbanks in general or specific foodbanks and we would be really grateful if you could help us reach a target of £5,000.
Obviously our long-term aim is to ensure that people have enough money coming in to their homes to be able to purchase food for themselves. Who wants to live on food decided by others? So if you have a story about how a food parcel helped you get back on your feet, got you through a tough time then we would also love to hear from you.
So before I go, thank you for your help both in the past and now.
