| | | Providing for those in need Christmas 2021 |
Food Facts Friends Foodbank provides Christmas meals on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day Story Jim Paterson. Photos Mark Wells
Vans arrive loaded with donations
Each
year Food Facts Friends opens its doors to anyone unable to put a
Christmas meal on their table. This year was no exception. With the
help of Bishop's Move, who once again provided their largest removal
truck, and a smaller on too, plus FFF own team in their pickup van,
headed out across the county to collect food for the parcels.
 Bags
of non perishables had been collected in the run up to Christmas, made
into family bags and stored inside the South Church sanctuary until
Christmas Eve. Included in the sacks at South Kirk were a selection of
toys for the children in each family, so there would be a surprise gift
to open on Christmas morning
As the collection trucks
returned, laden with food from supermarkets across Midlothian,
including M&S at Chesser and the Gyle in Edinburgh, Sainsbury at
Blackhall, Aldi at Gilmerton, and Lidl in Penicuik.
Baskets
of food, turkeys, chickens, stuffing and all the trimmings, desserts
and starters, arrived at the FFF Community Hub to be unloaded and
packed into the bags for the families to collect.
Over 130
tickets had been handed out to needy families, with strict Covid
procedures implemented to hand food parcels over that followed the
Scottish Government Covid restrictions in force this Christmas.
For
those unable to travel to the Community Hub, the volunteers took food
parcels and toys to Bonnyrigg, Dalkeith and beyond to ensure as
many people as possible were not left hungry for Christmas Day.
Christmas Day
Mark
Wells opened the Community Hub on Christmas Day for those finding
themselves short of food to feed themselves and their families. The
choices may have been less, but more than enough to make it a meal to
remember.
This is the sixth year Food Facts Friends have
offered Christmas Eve and Christmas Day food in addition to its normal foodbank openings Monday and Friday in Penicuik. Over Christmas & New Year they were the only foodbank open in Midlothian.
A
special thanks to all the supermarkets who donated food, and our supporters Bishop’s Move for collecting the
food, using the largest removal truck in their Penicuik fleet, and the
crew, who loaded and unloaded the truck. It was full when it arrived at the Foodbank and Community Hub Thanks also to all the FFF volunteers who helped organise and distribute the food and toys.
Without their help FFF could not manage the distribution of so much food
to so many people. No one who visited went away empty handed.
Afghan Hunger Appeal
 St. Mungo's with Penicuik South Church together ran a collection for the starving in Afghanistan.
Collections
at the Christmas services allowed people to donate to Christian Aid,
who are helping with this disaster relief programme.
The
situation in Afghanistan is catastrophic. Almost 9 million people are
on the brink of famine as drought, conflict and the Covid-19 pandemic
have caused a surge in hunger. Children are dying today, and a million
more under the age of five are at risk of dying over the next three
months. We need to act now.
This is why the Disasters Emergency
Committee (DEC) — of which the IRC recently became a member
organisation — has launched an emergency appeal to combat
widespread starvation in Afghanistan this winter.
Published - 28 December 2021
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