On behalf of all the trustees of Holbeach Community Larder and Café I would like to publicly thank, from the bottom of my heart, all those who have so generously supported the Community Larder and Café over the Christmas period.
First of all there were the hundreds of Tesco customers who donated such a generous quantity of food during the first weekend in December – 142 trays of it to be precise, and Jade, the Tesco Community Champion, who gave us so much cheerful support and help.
Then there was Buckingham Emergency Food Aid, which provided turkeys, sausages, bacon, eggs, Christmas puddings and vegetables for our Christmas Day lunch; Lincolnshire Field Products, which provided an assortment of vegetables to go out with the 40 hampers we gave to families in need; Oldershaws which provided two sacks of potatoes and the Norfolk Cake Company who provided a 300 or so cherry and sultana cakes for us to give as gifts to our clients over the Christmas period.
But perhaps the most heartening were the people who just walked in off the street with gifts. One couple put their £200 government heating allowance through the vicarage door as a donation to the larder having decided that there were people in greater need than they.
And, on the Friday before Christmas; the lady who walked in with a £50 donation having spoken to us in Tesco so that we could buy what the clients most needed; the lady who came in and asked, ‘What do you need?’ and on hearing that we were down to our last three tinned meat pies, came back with no less than 17 of them!; the parents with two small children who had made up a reverse Advent calendar of goodies and wanted to bring it in as part of their Christmas giving – we sent them upstairs to help unpack it, so that the children could see where everything was stored, and the mother who came in with her two daughters and a bag of presents to give away, who stayed to wrap and label them for us so that they could go out to a family in need that very day.
And of course, on top of that, there are our 20 or so volunteers who, week by week, help out in the kitchen, or on the reception desk or busy themselves in the store room, or who pitch up and help us to date sort, label and transport and store all our stock when it comes in, and all those wonderful people who willingly gave up their own Christmas Day in order to make and serve a Christmas dinner to those for whom Christmas might otherwise have been very bleak.
Your generosity and time are hugely appreciated by us and by the increasing number of clients who may struggle with delayed or withheld benefits, unemployment, mental health issues, chronic illness and debt.
If anyone is interested in joining our team of volunteers please contact me on 01406 424989. We are particularly looking to expand our small team of cooks in the kitchen – training, encouragement and willing kitchen assistants provided!
It has been so very heartening to see how many people really do care, and really do want to make a difference in their local community and really do want to bring up their children to realise that being able to give can be just as satisfying as receiving.
Thank you to the people of Holbeach – you are the best.
Rev Rosamund Seal
Vicar of Holbeach & Rural Dean of Elloe East
