Hospitality and Hope appeal for donation ahead of festive period

Hospitality and Hope say 'don't wait to donate' ahead of the festive period.

Transcript

00:00 So we're here at the food bank, Volunteers Hard at Work for the Christmas of 2023.

00:08 And some of these parcels that you can see are just some of the typical parcels

00:13 that we would give out to a client. So things like our single parcels, our

00:18 couple parcels, they are all tailored with nutritionists and the Trussell Trust

00:24 to best meet the needs of those who receive them. With that said however, we

00:29 have to be careful that there are a specific amount of items that need to go

00:33 into these parcels. So they are typically non-perishable goods, things like

00:39 cereals, pastas, things like tinned fruit, curry sauce, condensed milk. And

00:46 ultimately it's very important to see these things in and we want to be

00:51 careful that with donations coming in over the Christmas period that we're

00:56 actually receiving donations that can translate into going into the parcels

01:02 and doing that evenly to help us. From a statistical point of view we're looking

01:09 at about 40-45% of the people who engage with us being in employment and

01:16 unfortunately that is a harsh reality of today's current cost-of-living crisis.

01:22 People having to choose to heat their homes or to eat. We feel that that's

01:28 unacceptable and we're doing our best to help against that but ultimately we're

01:34 expecting it to be an extremely busy season. We're expecting it to be very

01:40 busy in terms of the amount of donations that go out, the amount of help that we're

01:45 able to give. And so equally this is why we're asking people, especially in the

01:49 first two weeks of December, to get donations into us as much as you can to

01:54 help us brighten people's Christmases up. I want to show you as well briefly one

02:01 of the boxes that a local resident of the area did up. Now they did up a box

02:07 that primarily helps those who are struggling with homelessness. We have a

02:13 number of different boxes, it's not just for those who are homeless, but this

02:16 particular example is. And it effectively, as well as a lovely Christmas card, it

02:21 contains things like sweets and gloves and hygiene products. Things that would

02:26 ultimately be seen and taken for granted by many but would actually be seen as

02:32 life-saving and essential for those who receive it. And it's done up in such a

02:36 beautiful way in this festive packaging as well and it just really helps to make

02:41 someone's year, someone's Christmas that bit more special. And these are the kind

02:46 of things that we just we cherish. A lot of us take it for granted but that's why

02:50 we're doing it to help as many people as possible. So as much as you can help, as

02:55 much as you can donate, just to help us push that message forward.