WORCESTER Foodbank is putting a new spin on an old festive tradition to help
ensure hundreds of people living in food poverty do not go hungry this
Christmas.
With just eight weeks to go until Christmas Day, the charity is urging individuals,
schools, churches, businesses and other organisations to support its Reverse Advent
Calendar appeal.
Instead of tucking into a chocolate treat, supporters are being asked to celebrate
the countdown to Christmas by putting aside an item of food in a box every day.
They can then donate what they have collected to Foodbank just before Christmas
in a generous act of festive goodwill.
Grahame Lucas, Worcester Foodbank Manager, said: “Good food is something many
of us take for granted over the festive season. But our clients face the bleak
prospect of waking up on Christmas Day feeling hungry and hopeless.”
“Our Christmas appeal is a fun way for people of all ages to provide our clients
with two gifts they will treasure this Christmas – food and the knowledge that
someone cares.”
The appeal is being launched as foodbank gears up for another busy winter with
debt, benefit delays, low incomes and homelessness continuing to fuel a 33 percent rise in the number of referrals.
Over the past 12 months volunteers have handed out almost 5,000 three-day food
parcels and the charity is pinning its hopes on a successful Christmas appeal to see
it through the winter.
Anyone interested in taking part in the appeal can download the Reverse Advent
calendar, poster and latest foodbank shopping list from
www.worcester.foodbank.org.uk/reverse-advent-calendar
