December has been a busy time of year with the Andover foodbank trying to help people to enjoy Christmas rather than “survive through it”.
A total 835 Christmas gift boxes were given out to agencies and schools including Andover Crisis and Support Centre, Mencap and Icknield School to give as a special treat for children in need.
The foodbank also handed out 400 Christmas hampers filled with treats such as ham, stuffing, gravy, Christmas pudding and mince pies to help individuals and families enjoy their celebrations with a festive meal as part of its ‘12 Days of Christmas’ campaign.
One of our partner agency’s has already provided feedback and told us that at “This time of year a lot of the people who use our centre are very stressed about their children missing out on Christmas.
“You can see the stress levels going down when you give them a hamper or shoe box.
“I know that money is tight this time of year and have been told by a number of clients how much the food hampers have helped them out in their time of need.”
Supermarket collections were held at Asda, Sainsburys and Tesco where customers donated “vast quantities” of Christmas food and the permanent collection point at Waitrose provided more necessary items.
Natwest, Barclays, Lloyds, Twinings and Asda also provided volunteers to sort and pack hampers.
The foodbank would like to thank local companies, churches and individuals for their very generous financial, food and gift box donations and a special thanks must go to all the amazing foodbank volunteers who have ensured that so many people in and around Andover have been helped this Christmas.