At YMCA Burton we are open all year round and supports our residents and members of our community throughout the festive break. This past year, due to the cost of living crisis, we have seen demand of our foodbank increase exponentially and as such, launched an appeal to help keep it in stock.
Individual members of the community, church groups, local businesses, schools and colleges have rallied round with donations of food and monetary donations too.
One of the community groups which supported our Foodbank appeal was The Burton Belles W.I They decided to support the foodbank Christmas appeal by doing a reverse advent calendar. Belles President Ros said: “My reasons for promoting a Christmas Fundraiser for the YMCA Food Bank is the appalling situation which families and individuals are facing with the Cost of Living Crisis. I saw a post on Social Media and felt that a reverse Advent Calendar which every day added another food item to a bag was a way to celebrate the Christmas period. I shared the idea with the other members of Burton Belles WI and it was received with enthusiasm and there was a collective effort. As I already volunteer at the Food Bank I was aware of the items needed but there was also room to add some seasonal treats. The response was amazing; we produced 28 bags plus extra items to top the Food Bank shelves. We also collect at our monthly meetings to help support throughout the year”.
We would also like to thank the many individuals, businesses, groups and people who wished to remain anonymous for dropping off food donations throughout December.
In addition to this, we managed to raise over £20,000 through online giving platform “visufund” and received monetary donations from Christmas jumper days, networking raffle, a Christmas breakfast, quizzes and music gig ticket sales to name just a few ways people have been raising money.
Fundraising and Partnerships manager Paula said; “We have been blown away by the support people have shown this Christmas. We are so grateful for the food donations which help keep our shelves stocked up and also the monetary donations which enable us to buy things we are short of and help us keep the foodbank going. In December, the Foodbank gave out 260 parcels, making the total for the year to over 3,100 emergency bags given out which has been the largest demand we have seen in the 22 years of running this service. Thank you to everyone, from individual givers to the businesses who have supported us, all of it is appreciated.”
Our YMCA Foodbank is open seven days a week from 9am – 7pm and located just opposite the Asda roundabout in the town centre.
Photo attached, Ros from The Burton Belles WI with their donation
