Christmas 2011

What a busy time leading up to Christmas! We have fed a total of 150 people so far in December with basic food items.  On top of that, we have distributed 60 special Christmas Food bags to people whose names have been passed to us by the various professional agencies working with us across the Waterside. One of those agencies wrote the following:
'When I arrived at the house, everything was bleak, children crying and mum very stressed.  It took a few trips in with the goody bags, but by my second entrance the atmosphere had changed, and Mum was excitedly emptying the food and a child was playing with the glove puppet included and grinning widely.  Mum was so thrilled at the food as she took the most basic items out, ie a tin of tomatoes, she said to the children "we are going to have such a feast tonight!"  Truly you have been imparting the spirit of Christmas in a very tangible way.  Thank you so much.  You do such a wonderful job as do all the members of the public who give so sacrificially."
A BIG thank you to all who have supported us this Christmas, including Apple Office Equipment and Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd in Millbrook, Fawley Refinery who donated 50 Christmas food hampers during Christmas week, Barclays Bank who donated £500 worth of food, and to the many churches, schools and individuals who have made donations to us including two fresh turkeys for which we were able to find good homes.  The generosity of people has been staggering!
Thank you all once again.

Christmas Foodboxes

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to our special Christmas Food Collection Day at Waitrose last Saturday.  We collected 207.5kg of Christmas food which is now being sorted and packed into Christmas bags and will be distributed to over 35+ families who have been identified by the professional agencies who work with us throughout the year across the Waterside.  A big thank you to our loyal band of helpers who bravely stood outside Waitrose in the cold wind, and to the 'Big Issue' man who gave up his space for us.  Lastly a massive thank you to the manager and staff of Waitrose for allowing the food collection outside the Hythe store.

Christmas Food Collection Day at Waitrose

We will be holding a Food Collection Day outside Waitrose in Hythe on Saturday 3rd December 2011 from 9.30am until 3.30pm. 

We will be asking for shoppers to buy something extra from our Christmas list as they do their own shopping and then to drop the donated item into our basket outside the shop.  This enables us to give that little bit extra to those in need at this time of Christmas goodwill. 

The special items on our Christmas list are:

Tinned Ham

Coffee (instant/any size)

Christmas Pudding

Christmas Cake

Long life cream

Box of Biscuits

Children's Selection Box

Box of Chocolates

Large bar of Chocolate (150/200g)

Nibbles (e.g. peanuts)

Christmas Crackers

Mince Pies

Thank you to everyone on the Waterside who so generously supports the Foodbank not only at Christmastime but throughout the year allowing us to support those on the Waterside who find themselves in crisis. 

We wish everyone, whatever their circumstance, a Happy Christmas.

Thank you to Dibden Allotments Fund

A Huge thank you to Dibden Allotments Fund who have so generously donated £6,000 to us.  This will enable the Foodbank shop to stay open for another year as it will pay our rent.  At the moment, the small amount of clothes we sell, pay our utility bills, which means that we have to find the money for rent etc in other ways.  We have ongoing fund raising activities - we recently raised £131 at our Jumble Sale at the Good Shepherd Hall - so we are thrilled to receive this donation which will certainly make a huge difference.  Thank You!

Fantastic Harvest

A really BIG, BIG thank you to all the schools and churches who supported the Foodbank again this year at their Harvest Festivals.  We have collected in just over 2 tonnes of food which will help greatly in replenishing our dwindling supplies.  Thanks too go to our warehouse staff who have weighed and sorted the food into 'best before' dates so that we use the 'short dated' food first.  Thank you to Marchwood Infant School who additionally collected clothes for us to sell at the foodbank shop.  We are now sorting through the clothes and have replaced our display of summer clothes with winter clothes.  Why not pop in and have a look!

Waterside Debt Advice

We are delighted to welcome Waterside Debt Advice under the umblella of Waterside Ecumenical Projects.  They are based in the Foodbank shop premises at Blackfield and are a free service to help you if you are struggling with a debt problem.  You can ring for an appointment on 023 8024 3618.

End of Year Report

Firstly, a very big 'thank you' to everyone who had supported us over this last year.  We have now had our yearly audit and I can tell you that over the past year, April 2010 to March 2011, 5446.7kg of food was donated and 5083.7kg were distributed.  Almost every school on the Waterside contributed their Harvest produce and donated 1834.2kg.  However, it's the support from local churches and Ron the Barber that keeps the food coming in week by week, so that during the last 12 months we fed 716 people; 417 adults and 299 children.  In line with national figures, the top crisis is benefit delay, closely followed by low income and debt. Again. thank you all for your continuing support.