December is such a joyous time with Christmas, carol services, Christmas dinners at home and with friends and a visit from Father Christmas.  However, for some people, this is a time of  dread.  How will they manage to eat?  Christmas dinner and all the extras is just not going to happen.  We have three of the most deprived wards in the country: Central, Hindpool and Ormsgill.  Central ward has one in every two children living in child poverty.

With the help of the generosity of the people of Barrow, we were able to make things easier for many people.  We fed 1,215 people, of which 540 were children.  In addition to the normal food, each family received a hamper of Christmas food of which 100 were made and provided and packed into lovely hampers by The Parish of Our Lady in Furness.

We gave out 475 presents to children, we are aware for some this was the only Christmas present they received. 

When giving out the presents we write the gender and age on so the parents can put their own or Santa’s name on it as is appropriate.  We would not have been able to do it without the very generous gifts from the public as shown in our previous newsletter and the £5,000.00 received from Community Grant Funding.

This was all made possible by the generosity of the public with their kind donations and the many volunteers who helped at Tesco, the warehouse and the drop-in.  With all that was going on, our warehouse looked like Santa’s grotto with many people buzzing around but knowing what they were doing.

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL