by Peter Martin
This note is especially for those residents who are not on the HCERA Facebook Group
We have now sent continuous contributions to either the Foodbank collection points in Shirley or in Millbrook, or to St Alban’s for about 21 months. The food and goods go to needy families and individuals, for whom times are hard. We have had especially large donations at the two Christmases so far, and also during school holidays, when and if children don’t get school meals.
Goods have included non-perishable foodstuffs, toiletries, household cleaning materials, and imaginative products to make people feel special for a moment. The work has a wide team membership of donors, transporters, leafleteers, notice laminators, encouragers, and a few people who give monthly by standing order. It is a show run by a team, and that is what it makes it what it is. Various people have often offered goods on the site for free to neighbours with the encouragement to give to the food project. Our accounts will be inspected in January, and receipts are always available to anyone who requests to see them. Currently we have collected over £3,500 in cash alone.
We realise that some people, who have thought the issue through very carefully, and regard such projects as a sop to poorer people, or as an excuse for the government not to provide for its people. This view is respected, although there are many who think that both “upstream” work and “downstream” work are together important. For some it is very simple: if someone is hungry, you feed them. Whatever the thinking, as a community, we try to respect each other’s ideas and stances. The frequently-emptied box for food etc. is always outside 52 Ethelburt Avenue, if you would like to give.
From January onwards, I shall also be happy also to process current UK coin, stored in jars, old handbags, trouser pockets etc., that may not be used now most things are routinely bought with touch-and-go cards. I will put them in a supermarket machine that gives “goods” credit-notes in exchange for coins, and then will buy whatever is needed with it. Sadly I cannot count this up, so if you want a receipt, you will need to add up the amount yourself. Otherwise, just put it through the door.
Thank you for your consistency and neighbourliness in all these endeavours.