Festive Hampers of Hope
2016’s festive volunteering was as active as usual with around 30 teams supporting an array of community partners, from parks and farms to children’s nurseries and older people groups. Particular highlights include: Morningside Children’s Centre who hired a nearby hall to cater for the increasing service users. 112 people attended the festive party, welcomed and supported by volunteers from Accenture. Alexander Ash bought food supplies for Bow Foodbank before helping to give them out to those in need at Christmas. While Freshfields created festive stockings full of warm woolies and toiletries for those living on the streets this chilly winter, and State Street volunteers came to help out with The Ivy Street Family Centre’s Christmas party.
Unfortunately not everyone experiences the joys of gathering around a roast dinner with all the trimmings at Christmas. Beneficiaries of Barking Foodbank make do with just essentials, such as tinned goods, pasta, or rice, to get them through 3 meals a week or to simply provide lunch for their children.
Ahead of the festive season, Obi Onyeabor, Pastor and Founder of Barking Foodbank and the Hope Family Centre and Fumi Ikele, the Foodbank and Hope Family Centre Coordinator, wanted to spread some joy this Christmas by putting together a hamper of sweet treats, luxury toiletries and festive food for their beneficiaries.
On the 12th of December 2016, 13 associates from T. Rowe Price volunteered their time for a day at the centre to create festive hampers. The team also donated 10 storage boxes of staple food after an internal food drive, bought extra supplies for 40 hampers and decorations ahead of the center’s party, where the festive hampers were gifted.
The T. Rowe Price volunteers found out about the opportunity in early November, during a ‘Meet and Greet’, a lunchtime information session where ELBA visited the firm and spoke with employees to highlight the vast volunteering options across east London.
Kim Tuckey, the team leader said, ‘the team wanted to do something of value and as much of it as possible! Anything that improves individual lives. If we [at T. Rowe Price] can do this during Christmas than that is even better’.
On the morning of the challenge, volunteers made a quick visit to the local supermarket to find as many items of value as possible to fill the hampers. Fumi expressed her joy at the eagerness of the team saying, ‘the volunteers managed to exceed their target of 20 hampers, with a brilliant attitude from start to finish. We will now be able to reach our target & provide for our most needed individuals this Christmas!’
It is vital that such volunteering continues to help the most needy communities and organisations in east London who would not be able to maintain such services without the help of volunteers, due to shortage in staff, loss in funding and increasing costs. Providing support to foodbanks is fundamental, not only at Christmas but all-year round.
