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