A foodbank hosted a free New Year’s Day lunch for families who will struggle this January after the expense of Christmas.
A foodbank hosted a free New Year's Day lunch for families who will struggle this January after the expense of Christmas.
Angela Gregg and Neil Bevis, organisers of the Hadleigh Foodbank, were so moved by the heartbreaking stories they heard as they distributed Christmas food parcels that they wanted to go one step further to help those in need as the new year dawned.
They decided to offer a lunch for families who would be facing a long and difficult month ahead after the added expenditure of Christmas, combined with school holidays.
They opened up the lunch to the wider community to show that the town is united.
Advertising the lunch on Facebook, they said: "The New Year's Day lunch idea is to give families in need a social occasion mixing with other residents of Hadleigh without feeling awkward."
Mrs Gregg said last night: "We had about 25 people join us, some of those were people we help with food parcels but not everyone was there for that reason.
"We wanted to give people a good start to the New Year."
The volunteers served up chilli, turkey curry, macaroni cheese and bombay potatoes amongst a selection of other hearty, warming meals.
Mrs Gregg added: "A family who we have supported in the past volunteered to help us serve, they said it would allow them to celebrate the new year and feel included."
On Christmas Eve the foodbank team delivered parcels to 18 families across Hadleigh, ensuring they had enough food to last them over the Christmas period.
"We invited them to pick up extra parcels today too," said Mrs Gregg.
Thanks to the generosity of the supermarkets in Hadleigh, the team were able to serve up the nutritious meal without dipping into their stores.
The Co-op donated food vouchers, while Morrisons provided groceries and Hadleigh Cricket Club offered up their club house free of charge.
The need to protect supplies is particularly important at this time of year when donations traditionally drop off but demand remains high.
"January is a very busy month," explained Mrs Gregg. "People have stretched themselves to do Christmas and money is low, they won't be paid for weeks and resources are spent."
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