Traditionally food items head our monthly ‘most wanted’ list of items for clients, but for February – for one month only – it’s tin openers!

Although many tins today have ring pulls, there are still a lot that don’t and we’ve found that a fair number of clients only have the basic ‘butterfly’ opener which can unfortunately snap at the wrong moment. So we would be most grateful for (good-quality) tin openers please, including perhaps some for left-handed users.

Packets of dried custard requiring only water top the list of food items we need. At our last Saturday session in January we completely ran out of custard and our volunteer Laura had to make an emergency dash to Purley Tesco for a new supply.

Other food items needed include jars of fish paste & meat paste and honey & jam and packets of dried potato. Tinned pulses and small jars of coffee are also requested, along with two non-food items: toothbrushes for adults and children and unisex shower gel.

Donations are gratefully received on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday mornings between 9.00am and 12.00midday at our base at United Reformed Church (next to Purley Hospital) in Purley town centre. Alternatively they can be dropped off at any of our local in-store and roadside collection points listed here.

As a direct result of everyone’s continued generosity, we have now provided a total of 290,000 meals to struggling clients and their families since we started in 2013.