Christmas spirit shines through as families, community groups and businesses rally round.
H-U-G-E thanks to everyone who brought us bags and boxes of donations in December – from groups, organisations and businesses to lots of families and individuals, many for the first time. Thank you one and all!
Here is a snapshot of just some of the month’s donations…
For the fourth consecutive year our young supporter Teddy asked friends coming to his birthday party not to give him presents, but to bring a donation for the Food Hub instead. As a result Teddy, accompanied by his mum and dad, was able to deliver two trolleyloads of items to our base at Purley URC.
Teddy, who was 10 in December, said: “I started doing this when I was seven and it’s become one of the most important parts of my birthday.
“I know some families nearby don’t always have enough to eat, and that makes me sad because everyone should have food on their table.
“Birthdays usually mean getting lots of things, but I already have what I need and I want my birthday to help someone who might be having a hard time.
“Thanks to all my friends for helping me make my birthday mean something bigger. It makes me really happy to know that together we can make someone’s day a little brighter.”
On Saturday 6th December Jessica, 12, and her brother William, 9, brought items from their Reverse Advent Calendar collection: “It’s one of our favourite annual family traditions.
“Each day in November we choose an item to go in the box, helping us count down to December. It’s so we can help people who don’t have as much as us to have a happy Christmas too.”
Also on 6th December, Chris from Cantilena Singers Ladies’ Choir delivered bagfuls of donations brought by family and friends to their Christmas Concert the previous evening at Sanderstead United Reformed Church. The singers are pictured with Musical Director David.
The following Saturday Finley, 6, and his sister Eden, 4, came with mum and dad Michelle and Pete to bring the family’s collection of items. They are pictured with the session’s team leader Helen and dispatcher Eddie.
Later that morning 19th Purley Scout Group (below) arrived with their three Santa sackfuls containing this year a record 107 children’s chocolate selection boxes. Evan, a scout, beaver Ollie, scout Caden and cub Chloe are pictured with Group Leader Liz (far left) and Evan, Caden and Chloe’s mum Lauren, Ollie’s dad Charlie, and volunteers Andrea, Juliette, Mimi, Eddie (back), Fanny, Helen, Claire and Steve.
On Monday 15th when our volunteer Brian made his regular visit to pick up shoppers’ donations from the Morrisons store at Fiveways, Purley Way, he was doubly delighted to receive two trolleyloads of items collected by Stephanie and colleagues at Croydon-based SIG Insulation. It was the second year that SIG had made such a handsome donation.
On Saturday 20th brothers Tom, 6, Matthew, 8, and James, 11, with their mum and dad Jennie and David delivered a full bootload of donations.
We sent them our Thank You Certificate and David let us know the next day: “I printed one each for the boys for them to come down to at breakfast. It was really appreciated.”
Also on the 20th, James, husband of Food Hub Trustee Annabel, brought in another carload of donations from Annabel’s good friend Sujita and daughter Keya, again in memory of Sujita’s dad. When we thanked Sujita a previous time, she replied: “I did the easy bit of just buying the items – you all do the difficult bit, giving up your time as well as all the effort it takes in organising the huge scale of operation. I am so glad I can help in a small way.”
When Laura asked her cousin Louise (that’s Louise Willmer, our Stock Controller) what the Food Hub was short of, Louise knew straightaway. She had been team leader at a recent session when we ran out of the main sizes of nappies for clients’ babies.
Laura put out an appeal to her friends and within 24 hours raised well over £100. She ordered 45 packs of nappies – 1,294 in total – via Tesco, and Louise and her sister Kate collected them from Laura’s home. Louise said: “We won’t be short of nappies for quite a while!”
Similarly, Shathusni and colleagues at Jati Teak Furniture, Coulsdon, raised over £150 to buy boxes of the most needed items listed on our website, which our volunteer driver Justin kindly picked up and delivered to the Food Hub.
Thank you to EVERYONE who donated so generously in December. The list included:
19th Purley Scout Group, Addington Residents’ Association, BAPS Charities, South London, Cantilena Singers Ladies’ Choir, Croydon Schools Immunisation Team, David Lloyd Club, Purley, Food for Thought, Kingswood, Infohealth Pharmacies, Coulsdon, Inner Wheel Club of Croydon, Jati Teak Furniture, Coulsdon, Lloret, Coulsdon, Move Revolution, Purley, Nando’s, Croydon, Serenity School, Coulsdon, SIG Insulation, Croydon
INDIVIDUALS/FAMILIES
Afan and Lucy, Ahmed Family, Alma, Colette, Coretta and Jeremy, Debbie, Ella, Finley and Eden, Gareth, Gillian, Glorie and Edwin, J and RW James, Matthew and Tom, Jenny, Jessica and William, Jordan, Ken, Laura, Maddison and George,
Margaret, Mark, Martin and Eleanor, Mike, Nalyni and Saieshwar, Nicola, Oliver, Rachael, Ravi, Rebecca, Sandy, Stephen, Sujita and Keya, Tara, Theya and Ajith, Tom, Zeeda, Zoe
COLLECTION POINTS/YELLOW BINS
Cumberlands, Kenley; Heathhurst Road, Sanderstead; Kendall Avenue South, Sanderstead
CHURCHES
All Saints, Kenley; All Saints, Sanderstead; Christ Church, Purley; Coulsdon Methodist; Croham Road Baptist, South Croydon; Emmanuel, South Croydon; Grace Vineyard, Purley; Purley Baptist; Purley United Reformed; Sanderstead Evangelical; Sanderstead Methodist; St Aidan’s, Coulsdon; St Gertrude’s, South Croydon; St James’, Riddlesdown; St John the Baptist, Purley; St John’s, Old Coulsdon; St Margaret of Scotland, Carshalton Beeches;
St Mark’s, Woodcote; St Mary’s, Old Coulsdon; St Paul’s United Reformed, South Croydon; St Peter’s, South Croydon; St Swithun’s, Purley; Woodmansterne Baptist
SCHOOLS
Cumnor House Girls, Purley; Purley Nursery; Riddlesdown Collegiate, Purley; Ridgeway Primary, Sanderstead
STORES & SUPERMARKETS
Morrisons, Caterham; Morrisons, Fiveways, Croydon; Sainsbury’s, Warlingham; Sainsbury’s Local, Purley; Waitrose, Sanderstead
As well as all these, we received other unrecorded donations from supporters who wished to remain anonymous.
Each item and each pound we receive goes to support someone living locally who is going through tough times.