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Veg Box Donation Scheme Every New Year is a time for looking back at good memories, difficult times, and lessons learned, and a time to look forward to a new start and a chance to do it better, to make new memories. For the Management Committee and our wonderful, dedicated volunteers at the Veg Box Donation Scheme (VBDS), it is a chance to look back at the first seven months of our charity: what went well, what we could improve on. It is also a chance to say thank you: to those growers and shoppers who so selflessly donated, to the supermarkets and schools and pubs. And, most importantly, it’s a time to reflect on how we can help more local households in financial need to have a healthy diet. These people are not just names or numbers to us – each one is a likeable individual, living life as best they can in the circumstance they find themselves in, often with children with their own need to make their way in life, to fit in with their friends, to have the benefits in life other children have. The Veg Box Donation Scheme is a Christian charity which collects donations of fresh fruit and vegetables from allotment gardeners, home growers, farmers, and shop-bought, supermarket, and school donations, and distributes it as gratis veg boxes to local residents referred to us as suffering food poverty. Our recipients include older folk on limited pensions, professionals in financial need due to Covid employment cuts and lockdowns, single mums with children on limited salaries, and families needing help for many varied reasons. Each one has a genuine need at this time, especially with the Covid epidemic, and we provide a fresh food supplement to the essential food bank provision. Can you help? There are many ways that you can assist us to provide a healthy diet to those in need: • Donate fruit and veg in Biggleswade on Fridays from 09:00-12:00, in the parking area, Biggleswade Baptist Church, 24 London Rd.
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• Donate fruit and veg in Potton on Saturdays from 09:00-12:00, in the parking area, Potton Allotments, Everton Rd. • Contact us to collect your donations. Supermarket, school and fruit/veg distributor donations particularly needed. • Donate cash to enable us to purchase produce when the donations are insufficient, particularly at this time of year, or to support the wider organisation. • Volunteer to help set up the donation tables, pack the produce and deliver to the recipients. We operate an Equal Opportunities policy – all are welcome, subject to a DBS check and referrals. • If you share our Christian ethos, apply to join our volunteer Management Committee. We are looking for a Secretary, a Marketing and Communications person, or anyone with other skills which could contribute to our vision to help those in need. ‘Generous hands are blessed hands because they give bread to the poor’, Proverbs 22.9, MSG. Help us to help them! Veg Box Donation Scheme Sharon Mey M: 07944 730565 E: vegboxdonations@gmail.com F: https://www.facebook.com/ vegboxdonationscheme faith.food.community
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