OUR BUSIEST EVER DAY AT THE FOOD HUB!

Sat 22/12/18
Today was the busiest ever day in the Food Hub’s six-year history. Thirty-nine clients attended and we provided food for a total of 113 people; at three meals a day for three days for each person, that’s just over 1,000 meals provided in the session. It took us past 30,000 meals overall in 2018, our biggest annual total since we opened in January 2013.

At the same time, 102 volunteers in 34 cars delivered 160 hampers, including a turkey and all the trimmings, to 160 people nominated by our food ticket partners as part of the Christmas Lunch On Jesus scheme. And last week 226 children received a gift and chocolate selection box through another Food Hub project, Toys For Joy.

We send heartfelt thanks and very best Christmas and New Year wishes to all of our clients, volunteers, friends and supporters.

Coloma come bearing Christmas food donations

Girls from Coloma Convent Girls’ School today kindly brought us 30 bags of food and toiletries collected by Years 9 and 12. Other recent donations of food and money have included from:

• AIG Croydon (Personal Insurance UK Claims Team)
• Caridon Property & Foundation
• Coulsdon College
• Keston Primary School
• Optivo Croydon
• SECOM Kenley
• Southern Rail train drivers based at Selhurst and Norwood depots
• United Airlines Heathrow
• Wallington High School for Girls
• Woodcote High School (who, as well as 30 boxes of food, also gave us £358 from their excellent ‘Spirit of Christmas’ concert on 6th December – plus £60 raised from a 40p donation for each charity Christmas card the school sent out)

We are extremely grateful for each and every single donation we have received during the year, however big or small – from schools and churches, businesses and organisations, and many individuals and families (including a lot of reverse Advert calendar donations). Thank you all very much indeed – we greatly appreciate your generosity.

26 trolleyloads of goods plus £330 from our collections at Waitrose

Mon 10/12/18
Enormous thanks to the customers, staff and management at the two Waitrose stores in Sanderstead and Coulsdon for their outstanding response to our collections in November and December.

At Coulsdon on 17 November we collected 8 trolleyloads of food and toiletries, etc, and £103 in cash, then at Sanderstead on 8 December we received 18 trolleyloads plus £227. This was on top of the donations we receive throughout the year in our collection box at Sanderstead. We are hugely grateful to everyone.

Milk, fruit juice and potatoes needed most in December – and Christmas treats

Sat 01/12/18
For the 9th month this year we passed 2,000 meals provided in a month in November – that’s more than 27,000 meals this year so far and more than 130,000 in total since we started nearly 6 years ago. To keep our stocks replenished for December, traditionally our busiest month of the year, our December food list includes requests for:

Cartons of long life whole milk and fruit juice, tins of potatoes or packets of dried potato, jars of fish paste, Christmas biscuits and chocolate treats for children. Also needed at this time are adult toothpaste, toilet rolls and tin openers. Thank you so much for your support.

Tinned meat, potatoes, honey and long life milk head November’s food list

Fri 02/11/18
As we seek to maintain our food stocks in the busy run-up to Christmas, tins and packets of potatoes/dried potato, tinned chicken, ham & corned beef, jars of peanut butter & honey, and cartons of long life whole milk head the Food Hub’s list of items needed most for our clients in November. Other non-food items required are size 6 nappies, washing up liquid and tin openers. Thank you very much.

Churches and 30 schools lead response to our appeal for extra donations

Thu 01/11/18
Two months ago we were concerned because our food stocks had never been so low and we issued an urgent appeal for extra donations to replenish our shelves. Since then we have had a magnificent Harvest-time response with large donations from churches and schools, businesses and organisations, families and individuals.

We give enormous thanks for each and every donation received – as well as to our Food Hub volunteers: the Monday sorters and Tuesday shelf-fillers and the team of collectors/deliverers.

In total, 30 schools gave us food from their Harvest collections:

PRIMARY – Atwood Academy, Beaumont, Cumnor House Girls, Foresters, Gresham, Harris Academy Kenley, Heathfield Academy, Kenley, Keston, Laleham Lea, Margaret Roper Catholic, New Valley, Oakwood, Oasis Academy Byron, Park Hill Junior, Purley Oaks, Regina Coeli Catholic, Royal Russell Junior, South Norwood, St David’s St John’s CofE, St Nicholas, St Peter’s, The Hayes, Warlingham Park.

SECONDARY – Oasis Academy Coulsdon, St Giles, The John Fisher, Wilson’s, Woldingham.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!

Ticket partners give presentations at the Food Hub’s AGM

Thu 18/10/18
Four of the Food Hub’s ticket partners gave well-received presentations at our AGM on Tuesday 16 October at Purley United Reformed Church: Sonia Meikle from Croydon Council’s Welfare Rights Team, Claire South of the Family Resilience Service, Inez Claus from Evolve Housing + Support and Peter Hall from Croydon Refugee Day Centre.

Fifty volunteers, friends and supporters attended the meeting and also heard from Dave Scott, our Client Support Volunteer/Befriender, and accounts of the Food Hub’s work from Ivanka Lennon, Chair of Trustees, and Helen Harris, Chair of the Management Committee.

Nick Pannell and Trevor Jones were appointed new Trustees, with Jim Beacom and John Stradling standing down.

Peanut butter, sugar, potatoes and tinned meat meals needed most in October

Mon 01/10/18
Huge thanks from everyone at Purley Food Hub for the superb response from local churches, schools, community organisations and families and individuals to September’s urgent appeal for extra donations to address our worryingly low food stocks. We are very grateful!

We still need to maintain and build up our stocks this autumn in the lead-up to Christmas – for example, our busiest ever August was followed in turn by our busiest ever September, with food for very nearly 3,000 meals provided – our fourth highest monthly total since we opened in 2013.

Our October food list includes requests for peanut butter, sugar, tinned/packet potato, tinned meat meals and tinned carrots and peas. Non food items that we especially need are children’s toothbrushes, washing up liquid and unisex deodorant.

Waitrose Sanderstead shoppers donate 12 trolleyloads of food and £124.65

Mon 17/09/18
Generous shoppers at Waitrose Sanderstead donated 12 trolleyloads of food, toiletries and household items in our latest collection at the store on Saturday 15 September, plus 124.65 in our collecting bottles. Every item collected will go to local families and individuals experiencing hard times, referred to us by agencies throughout Croydon.

Our next supermarket collection is at Waitrose Coulsdon on Saturday 17th November, then it’s back to Waitrose Sanderstead for our Christmas collection on Saturday 8th December (both 9am – 6pm).

URGENT APPEAL for extra donations of milk, sugar, jam and ready meat meals

Sat 01/09/18
After our busiest ever August with 2,300 meals provided to people in crisis – and close to 20,000 meals this year so far – our food stocks have never been as low as they are currently. So, as we move into autumn and the build-up to Christmas, we are in urgent need of extra donations of food and toiletries…

Specifically on our September food list we are asking please for long life whole milk, small bags of sugar, strawberry and raspberry jam, tinned ready meat meals, tins of red kidney beans, jars of pasta sauce and packet soup. The list also includes small packs of tea bags, tinned dessert and rice pudding, packets of sweet biscuits and small bottles of squash. Non food items especially needed are washing up liquid and non bio washing tablets/sachets.

Thank you so much – we greatly appreciate and value everyone’s support.

Long life milk, sugar, fish paste and tinned meat top August’s most wanted list

Fri 03/08/18
With over 17,500 meals provided so far this year to families and single people going through tough times, our food stocks are becoming concerningly low – therefore we are requesting extra help please to refill our shelves in August.

We especially need more donations of long life whole milk, 500g bags of sugar, jars of fish and meat paste, and tinned plain meat: chicken, corned beef, ham. Also on our August food list are tins of tuna, packs of 40 or 80 tea bags, chocolate treats for children, and sweet and savoury biscuits. Non food items particularly needed are non bio washing tablets/sachets, disposable razors, and adults’ toothbrushes. Thank you very much as always.

We are so grateful for all the donations we receive

Thu 21/06/18
We are extremely grateful for all the donations of food, toiletries and money that we regularly receive from local churches, schools, uniformed organisations, Rotary and WI, and businesses, as well as from many mostly anonymous families and individuals.

Recent donations have included from:
29th Purley Beavers, 1st Purley Beavers, Sutton BNI, Residents of Reynard Court, Purley
Churches: St Peter’s, South Croydon; Woodmansterne Baptist; Croham Road Baptist, South Croydon; St John’s, Old Coulsdon; St Andrew’s, Coulsdon; St Antony’s, Hamsey Green; and St Mary Magdalene with St Martin, Addiscombe

Thank you everyone!

Three more highly successful supermarket collections

Mon 18/06/18
Our monthly collections at local supermarkets are a major source of food and toiletries, etc, for clients of the Food Hub, so big thanks to the customers, staff and management at these three stores following recent collections there:

• Waitrose Sanderstead on 16 June – 11 trolleyloads of food, etc, plus £121.72 cash
• Co-op Hamsey Green on 19 May – 30-plus bags plus £95.00
• Waitrose Coulsdon on Saturday 21 April – 10 trolleyloads plus £109.99

Our next collection is at Waitrose Coulsdon again on Saturday 14th July, 9.00am-6.00pm.

Thank you so much for your donations of food, toiletries, money…and Easter eggs

Fri 06/04/18
We continue to be very thankful for each and every single donation of food, toiletries and money that we receive. Recent donations have included…

Food from these churches: St John the Baptist, Purley; St Swithun’s Purley; All Saints, Kenley, St Aidan’s, Coulsdon; Coulsdon Methodist; St Gertrude’s, South Croydon; St Mary’s, Sanderstead; Montpelier, South Croydon.

Food from The John Fisher School, Purley – Challoner House are currently leading the inter-House competition for most food collected, with Bede still to come in May…

Easter eggs (and also food) from: Tesco, Purley, Caridon Property, Croydon, Croydon Jobcentre Plus, Friends of Grange Park, Old Coulsdon, 2nd Coulsdon Rainbows, 14th Coulsdon Brownies & 7th Coulsdon Guides, 3rd Kenley Guides.

Cash donations from: Woodcote High School – £303.50 from their Christmas Concert in December 2017; Croydon Dancing Club – £250.

Toiletries each month from: Infohealth Ltd who run two pharmacies in Chipstead Valley Road, Coulsdon.

On behalf of all the clients and their families that we serve, we are most grateful to you – and to many others also – for your generous donations.

Waitrose customers donate 18 trolleyloads of food and toiletries

Mon 26/03/18
Customers at Waitrose Sanderstead donated an amazing 18 trolleyloads of food and toiletries, plus £120.64, in our latest collection at the store on Saturday 17 March.

Everyone was so generous on a day of extreme weather conditions: two people bought one of everything on our shopping list and someone else donated a whole trolleyful of goods. Thank you all, including our team of collectors who braved the snow, wind and cold…and the store’s staff who kindly kept them supplied with hot drinks!

Our next collections are at Waitrose Coulsdon on Saturday 21 April, at the Co-op Hamsey Green for the first time on 19 May and then Waitrose Sanderstead again on 16 June.

Super Swimathon team go great lengths for the Food Hub…!

07/03/18
Our Super Six swimmers – (left to right) Winifred, Howard, Betty, Robin, Terry and James – went to great lengths for the Food Hub in the Purley Swimathon on Thursday 1 March…in fact, a record 124 lengths!

They are also likely to have raised a record £1,500 in sponsorship, £900 of which will come back to the Food Hub from Purley Rotary Club who organised the annual event. Thank you Howard and team!

Co-op Kenley’s very warm response on a very cold day

Tue 27/02/18
A big thank-you to customers and staff at the Co-op Kenley who kindly supported our food collection at the store on Saturday 24 February. Our team collected the equivalent of three trolleyloads of food and toiletries, etc, plus £58.56 – a very warm response on a bitterly cold day!

It followed another similarly successful collection at Waitrose Coulsdon on 19 January when shoppers donated eight trolleyloads of items and £125.49.

Each item collected at Kenley and Coulsdon is badly needed at a time when we are providing food parcels to increasing numbers of clients and their families in crisis. Our next collections are at Waitrose Sanderstead on Saturday 17 March, Waitrose Coulsdon again on 21 April and the Co-op Hamsey Green for the first time on 19 May.

Wren’s 5th birthday treat for the Food Hub!

Thu 08/02/18
When Wren Graham gave out the invitations for her 5th birthday party on 3 February, she asked her 40 young friends not to bring presents for her…but tins of food for the Food Hub. There was such a brilliant response that Mum Jo and great-aunt Mary (pictured with Wren) could hardly fit everything into our store cupboard!

Jo said: “It’s so lovely to see what happens when everyone comes together like this and Wren was super proud. I am just so chuffed that we had the chance to help out in a small way.” Big thanks to Jo and Wren!

January sees 70 per cent increase in meals provided compared to a year ago

Wed 31/01/18
Traditionally January has been a ‘quieter’ month at the Food Hub – but not so this year. In total this month we have provided just over 3,500 meals to people in crisis, compared to just over 2,000 meals in January 2017 – an increase of more than 70 per cent. January 2018 has become our second busiest month since we opened 5 years ago…second only to December 2017.