Did you know that the Howe Trust is not only a custodian of the 26 acres of land but that we’re also a charity that support local people who are experiencing hardship?
This year will be the 4th year that we organise the Christmas Hamper Initiative – a campaign which was inspired by national initiatives such as those championed by Marcus Rashford as well as the good work done year-round by our local schools.
Christmas can be a particularly difficult time for families who are financially vulnerable. Most of us take for granted being able to buy ingredients for a special meal at Christmas, but for some families in our community having a Christmas meal competes with essential living expenses and it becomes unobtainable.
The Christmas Hamper initiative is targeted at local families whose children attend our village schools – Wheatley Primary, The Park and John Watson schools – and who are eligible for free school meals.
Each hamper contains the ingredients to cook a traditional Christmas meal for 4-6 people. We source the food from local suppliers and stores, and rely on the kindness of our army of volunteer drivers to deliver the hampers to each family on December 23rd.
But we couldn’t do this without the financial donations that come in every year from several local parish councils and generous individual donors within our community. Each hamper costs around £50 to buy, but any amount that you can afford to donate will help.
The initiative really does make a difference, as illustrated by this message from one of the 110 families we supported last year:
We have just received our hamper . We are thankful beyond words for it……Once again thank you so much x“
How can you help?
To donate go to www.justgiving.com/campaign/howetrusthamper – or you can make a payment by bank transfer or by personal cheque. Please contact Maggie to get more details.
Alternatively if you have a car and would like to help deliver the hampers on Saturday 23rd December (from 12 noon) we would love to hear from you.
For more information please email: maggieefyffe@gmail.com.
Photo by Sapan Patel on Unsplash
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