It was around this time last year that I heard one of the families in our school was on the verge of being made homeless. Through a few unfortunate circumstances, they had gone from a middle-class family with two working parents and three happy children, to divorced and jobless with bailiffs at the door and children who didn't know where their next meal was coming from.
Having taught all three girls, it was more than I could bear, but the only thing I personally could do to help was donate to the local foodbank that I knew they would use. Since then The Boy and I have been food shopping in Aldi several times and we make an effort to take it to the church, where they explain the foodbank to him and he sees how the process works.
Earlier this week we went shopping again.
We spent £30.00 in Aldi on bags of pasta and rice, tins of fruit and vegetables, soups, pasta sauces, cartons of long-life milk and fruit juices, coffee, tea, sugar and toilet paper.
We also bought ten advent calendars.
This was something that The Boy was very keen to do, as he didn't want the children to not have one of the most lovely treats available at Christmas time and so carefully picked them out himself.
No-one wants to use a food bank. No-one wants to not be able to feed their children. No-one wants to not be able to give them the simple things at Christmas time.
Our local food bank feeds over 2000 families a year. TWO THOUSAND. That's forty families a week who can't feed their children. Who have to ask for help.
Please, please, please find your local food bank and donate just a few tins to them. Most of us are only a few steps away from being in the same boat as the families who have to use food banks.
It's a small act of kindness, but one which would mean so much to so many.
13th November is National Kindness Day, do something kind for someone today. And every day.
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I'm linking this up to Mum In The Madhouse's Alternative Advent Calendar; a list of 50 Fantastic Activities to do as a family, thinking about others' needs before our own.
It really doesn't cost that much to make other people day that little bit better. Xxx
thank you for sharing you picture and giving me the boot up the bum I need to help make a difference.
I can personally vouch for the feeling of awfulness in having to use a food bank, of feeling like an utter failure as a parent. It is horrible. And another tragedy that they are so needed in this country.