COMMITTED volunteers have been thanked after spending their weekend packing festive hampers for in need households across the district this Christmas.
Stratford Foodbank distributed 350 hampers to families across the district all in one weekend.
The mammoth job involved moving over a tonne of food, worth £2,400, to their workshop in community hub Foundation House, where volunteers joined shifts to fill the hampers with festive food, small gifts and toiletries.
They were taken to nearly 40 different organisations and charities to be handed out to those in need.
Foodbank manager Marion Homer said: “I am immensely proud of our volunteers, over 60 of them offered to be part of this project.
“The planning that goes into something like this is detailed and thorough, and we started it months ago. We are very grateful to Stratford Town Trust who made their Green Room at Foundation House available to us over the weekend.
“Foodbank hampers are different to our usual parcels as the recipients don’t necessarily have to be in a financial crisis to receive one, although many are. Instead we ask our agency partners to nominate anyone they are supporting who might find Christmas difficult. We really hope that the hampers help in a small way to show them their community is thinking of them.”
The team was forced to reach out to the public on social media as festive donations began running low before all 350 were completed.
Marion added: “By Sunday lunchtime our collections baskets were overflowing and donations were being brought directly to us at Foundation House. The response was overwhelming and, through the generosity of those living in the Stratford area, we had 350 hampers waiting for collection on Monday morning. I’d like to sincerely thank everyone who gave us food and made the donation of these gifts possible.”
