Such overwhelming generosity as food and money donations continue to flow in.
The overwhelming generosity of the Food Hub’s donors and supporters carried on in November from where it left off in October. A near-constant stream of food and money donations – both big and small – came in, and we say again how extremely grateful we are for every single item received.
Here’s a snapshot of a few of the month’s donations…
★ Coulsdon C of E Primary School Head Teacher Paul Garratty is pictured delivering the bags with his son Oscar on 2nd November, met by our volunteer Felicity.
Coulsdon C of E was one of 21 schools and pre-schools/nurseries which have kindly given us their Harvest food collections. All 21 are listed in our 2024 Donations Roll of Honour.
Writing in the school’s Coulsdon Chronicle newsletter, Paul said: “It was lovely to be at St John’s Church for the Harvest Festival service led by Jono [Rev Jonathan Simpson]. It was a great opportunity to reflect on where our food comes from and to give thanks to God for all that he provides.
“Thank you for all the kind donations which will be sent to Purley Food Hub who will make sure it is provided to those in need. They are absolutely thrilled we [are] supporting them once again.”
★ Five children from St David’s, Purley, delivered the school’s collection following their Harvest Festival on 17th October.
Sarah Syradd, Head Teacher, wrote in the school newsletter: “Rev’d Fiona Weaver led an Assembly on the importance of doing something positive to make other people’s lives better. What a fantastic way to demonstrate our gratitude by giving to others in need. Thank you so much to all our parents for their overwhelming generosity in donations, which was gratefully received by the Food Hub.”
★ The annual Veteran Car Run from London to Brighton on 3rd November again saw Christ Church, Purley, acting as an unofficial pit stop. In the course of a busy morning, church members dispensed over 400 bacon butties and 500 hot drinks to drivers, passengers and spectators. From everyone’s donations they sent £1,074.63 to the Food Hub, which we have shared with our partner Purley Food Stop at Old Lodge Lane Baptist Church.
★ Then, on the 8th, we received another big donation from a food drive organised by the staff of Barclays Croydon North End. Pictured are Bernie, Jackie and Holly carrying some of the bags to their colleague Julie’s car for delivery.
★ Staff from several companies based in the Renaissance building in Dingwall Road, Croydon, collected nearly 100 Advent calendars, which were delivered over two Saturdays on 16th and 23rd November by Robyn Miller. She is pictured with her colleagues Reg, Ben and Robert. The calendars were added to our food parcels delivered to clients on 27th and 30th November, and we also passed on some to Purley Food Stop for their clients.
★ Boys from class 9M at The John Fisher School, Purley, raised funds this Autumn term for the Food Hub as part of the First Give programme, and on 22nd November our volunteer Steve was presented with a cheque for £600 by Dylan, Will, Bart, Ian, Tyler, James, Ryan and George. Thank you, 9M!
★ On 27th November Margaret Roper and Regina Coeli Catholic Primary Schools became the 20th and 21st schools on our Roll of Honour when we collected their Harvest collections – with thanks to new volunteer Darren, who has also joined our sorting and packing teams, and to Sue. On the same morning RSPCA South London delivered a full load of dog and cat food for our clients’ pets.
★ Then on 28th November community champion Tina from Morrisons Croydon let us know that as part of a joint national project the local branch of construction company SIG in Beddington Lane, Croydon, had spent its allocated budget of £250 on items for the Food Hub (with a 10 per cent discount from Morrisons).
Pictured are SIG’s Lena and Glen with two fully-laden trolleys due to be collected by our volunteers Betty and Trevor (Chair of Trustees) on 2nd December.
★ Meanwhile several other organisations got in touch to say they would be making donations in December and asking for an advance copy of our Christmas/December food list.
Among them were Cantilena Singers who, for the second year, collected for the Food Hub at their Christmas Concert. This took place on 12th December at All Saints Church, Sanderstead.
★ Big thanks to a growing number of supporters who have brought or sent cash donations, varying from £10 to £100 or more. We use the money on Wednesdays and Saturdays to buy bread for the morning’s food parcels for clients and for items like tubs of baby formula, larger sizes of nappies and items for people with special dietary needs.
We are very grateful too to the supporters who host yellow bin and other collection points for the Food Hub and then deliver the donations to us. In November these included Gill (East Coulsdon Residents’ Association) in Mead Way, Coulsdon, Neil in Selsdon Road, South Croydon, Adrian in Heathhurst Road, Sanderstead, and Jill in Cumberlands, Kenley.
★ During November the recorded donations of food, toiletries, household essentials and money that we received from supporters included the following:
Barclays Croydon North End, Croydon Dancing Club, GXO Logistics, Croydon, Infohealth Pharmacies, Coulsdon, Monty Bojangles, Kenley, Renaissance, Croydon, RSPCA South London, Selsdon Building Contractors Ltd, Women’s Circle, St Mark’s Church.
COLLECTION POINTS/YELLOW BINS
Cumberlands, Kenley, East Coulsdon Residents’ Association, Mead Way, Heathhurst Road, Sanderstead, Selsdon Road, South Croydon.
CHURCHES
Alive City Church, Kenley, All Saints, Kenley, All Saints, Sanderstead, Christ Church, Purley, Coulsdon Methodist, Grace Vineyard, Purley, Old Coulsdon Congregational, Purley Baptist, Purley United Reformed, 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 Swithun’s, Purley, Woodmansterne Baptist.
INDIVIDUALS/FAMILIES
Ann, Charlotte, Dilip, Ella, Glorie & Edwin, Jacob, Jenny & Martin, Karen, Leo, Isabelle & Dominic, Lynda, Maggi, Margaret, Martin & Eleanor, Mortimer, Mrs & Miss A, Nalyni & Saieshwar, Oliver, Quentin, Salli, Sandy,Stephen, Toni & Jenny, Val, Veronica.
CARE HOMES
James Terry Court, South Croydon.
SCHOOLS
Class 9M, The John Fisher, Purley, Coulsdon C of E Primary, Margaret Roper Catholic Primary, Purley, Regina Coeli Catholic Primary, South Croydon.
STORES
Morrisons Caterham, Morrisons Fiveways Croydon, Sainsbury’s Local Purley, Sainsbury’s Warlingham, Waitrose Sanderstead.