URGENT NEEDS OF OUR FOODBANK [1] Volunteers urgently needed – we need members of our Christian community with a heart for the disadvantaged and poor to volunteer in our foodbank. Can you give one morning a week? (opening times – Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9.30am to 1.00pm). Some of our existing volunteers cannot help during the school holidays because of childcare. Please see Michael Conway (mob: 07482425539).
[2] Food and Toiletries needed – It has become much more difficult to source suitable food and other items and often we have little to offer those with great need. Please bring anything you and ask your friends and neighbours to help and share with those who have so little. We need fresh meat (which can be frozen), bread, eggs, fruit and vegetables; pasta, rice, breakfast cereals, milk, sugar, tea/coffee, pasta sauces, and tinned fruit, vegetables, meat and fish, baked beans etc. Some vegan foodstuffs also needed as well as some pet food. And of course also washing powder, cleaning materials and toiletries. Please bring what you can at the Offertory on Sundays – larger deliveries by arrangement with Michael, our foodbank manager, (mob: 07482425539). THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!
FOOD BANK OPENING TIMES:
MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY 10am to 12.45pm.
DELIVERY OF FOOD DONATIONS (always welcome!):
MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY: if possible 8.30-9.45am or 1.00-1.30pm … and
THURSDAY 10.00am-12noon
Outside these times by arrangement with Michael, the FoodBank Manager.
Each week we serve about 250 people with bags of food, nourishing between 800 to 1000 people in all. Since the end of the Covid Emergency and the steep rise in Cost of Living, it has been much more difficult to source the food we need. Furthermore we have had a significant increase in demand for our Parish Foodbank in recent weeks.
So we need supplies of EVERYTHING – primarily non-perishable foods and drinks in tins and packets. Please ring Michael Conway, the FoodBank Manager (tel: 07482425539) to arrange to drop off any contributions.
What kind of things? Long-life milk and juices, small jars of coffee, tins of meat, fish, vegetables, tinned tomatoes baked beans, soups, custard and fruit; packets of rice, pasta, cereals; jars of pasta sauce, ketchup, mayonaise, packet soups; toilet rolls, bars of soap, toothpaste, and other toiletries.
We also need money donations as we have to purchase considerable amounts of food to fill the gaps on our shelves. If using cheques, please make them out to ‘St Nicholas of Tolentino Parish’ and write ‘FoodBank’ on the reverse of the cheque. Thank you!
You are helping us to meet a vital need, making practical in these difficult times ‘love of our neighbour’ and ‘God’s Option for the Poor’. Please be as generous as you can, and hold this ministry in your prayer. Thank you in the name of all whom we are serving.
SPECIAL APPEAL: We would like to raise funds in order to buy and maintain a good second-hand van in order to collect (and sometimes to delivery) much needed food supplies. If anyone has a van they could donate to us that would be wonderful. Any donations by cheque for this special appeal, please mark the reverse of the cheque ‘FOODBANK VAN’. Again many thanks for any help and support you can give to this ministry of care.