A huge thank you to the local community this Harvest time from Jo Mackay, Chair of Haslemere Food Bank.

Harvest is always a crucial time for the Haslemere Food Bank to replenish supplies and re-stock shelves. This year has been no different. Over the past few weeks, cars filled with essential food items have been a regular presence at our doors. The Haslemere Food Bank would like to thank all those churches, schools, youth groups, businesses and individuals who have donated during this Harvest Festival. We are so grateful for your support.

The Haslemere Food Bank relies on the generosity of the local community throughout the year. Without community support, we couldn’t function. All donations, however big or small, allow us to help those within our local community that are struggling financially. Just popping one item into a food bank donation point at any time of the year makes a crucial difference.

Sadly, those in need of help from Food Banks often increases at this time of year as households face growing financial pressures during Winter time. Whilst we may have only just celebrated harvest, we are also very conscious that Christmas is just around the corner and many families are already feeling the financial squeeze that this brings. As always, the Haslemere Food Bank will do what it can to help relieve this stress.

For example, we have recently launched our annual Christmas gift drive. We are asking the local community to donate new and unwanted gifts for children, teens and adults which we will then distribute to local families and individuals in need to ensure that everyone can experience the joy of Christmas this year. Gifts must be brand new and unused but gifts for all ages from toys to toiletries, from games to books and from clothing to cuddly toys are all welcome.

If you already have something sitting in a cupboard at home that you would like to donate, you can drop your gift into one of the normal food bank collection boxes or give them to The Swan Inn in Haslemere who will store them on our behalf until needed. Alternatively, to make donating super easy, customers at participating stores in Haslemere can also purchase an item in store or make a monetary donation. The Food Bank will then use this to buy gifts for local families. We have more local businesses than ever before supporting this initiative, and again, we are so grateful to them at this busy time.

We also welcome any donations of festive food. Items on our shopping list include small Christmas cakes and Christmas puddings, mince pies, boxes of biscuits and chocolates, nuts and crisps as well as savoury items such as stuffing mix, cranberry sauce and bread sauce.

The deadline for all food and gift donations is December 1.

In the meantime, an enormous thank you once again to everyone who has helped and supported the Food Bank over the past 12 months. We are so incredibly grateful to each and every one of you.