Staggering Support

October continues to be a strange month, the number of parcels issued was way down on the same period last year, 4764 meals to 211 adults and 186 children this year compared with just over 6,000 meals last year. Maybe our efforts in trying to help people resolve their problems is having an effect, that’s why demand is down, I hope so. We seem to be busy most of the time, but a lot of time can be spent on the phones trying to get information on the crisis, some times trying to make sense and just getting to the truth, some times trying to understand what is being said.

Our efforts in trying to be fair to everyone is causing us some real problems, the short and out of date items we place outside are being hoovered up by a few individuals who will wait just round the corner until we put more items out and then clear the lot before anyone else has a chance. We try to make sure everyone has a fair chance but it really does bring out how selfish some people can be.

But its not all bad, we have been overwhelmed by the “Harvest Festival” donations, to the point where we are having difficulty finding storage space for it and we are aware of more still to come in. There has also been a flood of people offering to volunteer, both individuals and businesses giving employees time off to volunteer. The support we have received has been staggering, an endorsement of the vital work the Food Bank does, A big thankyou to you all, we are here to help.