I am writing publicly as the chair of trustees of Holbeach Community Larder to thank the people of Holbeach and the surrounding area for their phenomenal support for the work of the Community Larder throughout the last ten months of the pandemic and, in particular, for their support in the run up to Christmas.
In 2019 we fed 517 people, of whom 177 were children under the age of 16, during the course of the whole year. In 2020 those figures were 1,620 people, of whom 651 were under 16.
In addition we provided numerous extra contributions to a number of local schools to supplement their Free School Meals schemes.
In the weeks running up to Christmas local people provided sufficient goods for our team to put together 56 hampers that ultimately fed 189 people including 95 children.
We also worked in partnership with Holbeach Football Academy who provided wrapped age-appropriate gifts for each of those 95 children and gift bags for the single parents, which were delivered alongside the hampers.
Many other donors also provided children’s gifts, so that most of the children received two or three presents this year.
Our Community Cafe, having had to close in March, was relaunched in September, offering a takeaway service on a Friday, and since then Jane Francis and her team has provided a two-course meal for 20-30 people weekly.
A Christmas meal went out to 33 people on the Friday before Christmas and, on Christmas Day itself, Karen and Albert Slator and their family cooked a Christmas meal that was distributed to a further 35 people, with several last minute orders coming in on behalf of people who had originally planned to spend Christmas with family members, but were no longer able to do so.
It has been, quite simply, a phenomenal effort, and I want to take this opportunity to thank our 25 regular volunteers who have worked in our storeroom, on our reception desk and in the kitchen and also our growing team of drivers who pick up excess sell-by-date food from Marks and Spencer, Aldi and Tesco, undertake the delivery of parcels to those who cannot get to one of our sessions and deliver our takeaway meals and our Christmas hampers. They have worked tirelessly.
I particularly want to thank Gill Rogers who manages our storeroom, who has not missed a Wednesday or a Friday for the last ten months, and in the two weeks before
Christmas was in the storeroom with her team, masterminding the socially distanced packing of hampers every day.
It was wonderful to receive recognition for our work when we won the Hearts of Holbeach Community Group award – so thank you to those who nominated and voted for us.
In the autumn we also set up the ‘Help Yourself’ shop which currently runs in the church porch at All Saints’ Church offering supermarket surplus or ‘sell by date’ stock on an almost daily basis to which people can help themselves. This is proving an excellent way to find good homes for day old and frozen bread that would have otherwise gone to waste.
But the groundswell of our support has come from the local community.
There has been a constant procession of people arriving at the vicarage with boxes and bags of goodies. There have been collections in village shops and donations from local businesses. There have been people ringing up and saying ‘We want to go out and spend £200 on goods for you, what do you need most?’ There have been financial donations from local community groups, businesses and individuals amounting to £4,965.39 to support our work.
We are hugely and overwhelmingly grateful because, without your donations and financial support and the practical support of our volunteers and the hospitality of the William Snarey Trust who have let us almost take over the use of the Reading Rooms for a very nominal rent, we could not do what we do. Thank you!
We do it to help those most in need in difficult times and we hope that, eventually, there will come a time when child poverty and food poverty are things of the past, but until that time we are committed to being here for those who need us.
Please do not be afraid to ask for our help. If you need food, thanks to the generosity of the local community, we have plenty.
Canon Rosamund Seal (on behalf of Holbeach Community Larder & Cafe)
