In Praise of Foodbanks

I’m coming to the end (hopefully) to what has been toughest assignment of all my years as a charity consultant. For a bit of light relief I’ve offered myself to a local foodbank. It’ll be a walk in the park after my recent experiences. 

I notice that food banks are gearing themselves up to what’s going to be a very challenging Christmas period for record numbers of clients. Midhurst Foodbank is inviting their supporters to support local gift shops to make a modest purchase of a Christmas gift that they hope to be able to pop into every parcel they make up. It’s a small thing, but such acts of kindness can make such a difference to families and individuals up against it. Maybe find out what your local food bank is doing to spread a bit of seasonal cheer. Forget Amazon and support any shops that join in on any local arrangements. Midhurst has persuaded a good number of local shops to support them in this, including an upholsterer; can’t imagine why the local upholsterer, but I’m sure there’s a jolly good reason. Well done Midhurst and all the others that are stepping up their game.

As I said, I’ve offered myself. Whether they’ll want an old, beaten up, grumpy, donkey like me is another matter and possibly wiser counsels will prevail. I’ve just written to a delightful reader to thank her for the sillinesses she puts up on FB. She doesn’t know what an important thing she does by keeping us donkeys smiling through our tears. Well done Maureen; keep it up.