Campaign Update!
We have now reached £15,000 in public donations (thank you so much for your support!), which means the Lady Fatemeh Trust will release a further £15,000 in match funding. Amazing!
Even more great news: The Beta Charitable Trust have agreed to match fund the next £15,000 you donate, so please keep giving so that we can support families who are struggling over winter and during Christmas.
If together we can meet our £30,000 target, we will be able to raise £60,000 in total for families in urgent need. That’s what Christmas is really all about – so please give generously.
Hope. For many of us reading this, December is a time to wind down and look forward to some festive cheer. We overindulge in food and drink and buy lots of token gifts for people who don’t really need them (most end up in landfill). Isn’t that what Christmas is all about?
No – not for the families we support at Sufra. For most of our guests Christmas is a time of financial crisis and hopelessness.
This is what Mariah (a Food Bank guest and single mother) said when I asked her how she was:
“I can’t even afford powdered milk for my daughter, let alone the Lego set my son wants for Christmas. It’s because the gas bills are so bl***y high now and my universal credit is cut – I can’t even pay my rent in December. What can I do? Put it on my credit card again until they send the debt collectors and put me in jail?”
You could see the despair in her eyes. And Mariah is just one of hundreds of people we will support over winter…
That’s why we launched our Winter Appeal 2021: to raise the funds we need to give our guests a glimmer of hope during the dark days ahead. Here’s what we are going to do over the next two months (in addition to our usual services):
- Distribute more than 2,000 food parcels and hot meals to families in crisis.
- Provide luxury hampers with ALL our food parcels in the run up to Christmas.
- Deliver 600 Christmas meals and presents to those in need on Christmas Day – including asylum seekers in hostel accommodation.
- Keep our weekly Advice Drop-in centre open so that anyone in crisis can get urgent help and professional support.
- Deliver FREE nature-based activities for children in our Community Garden, so that no one is left isolated over winter.
- Provide freshly cooked hot meals on Fridays to anyone who needs them over winter, in partnership with Granville Community Kitchen.
But we can’t do this alone. We need to work together as a community to demonstrate what Christmas is really all about and give people the gift of hope.
Here’s a comment from one of last year’s guests:
“The Sufra Christmas Day delivery was amazing – we got to have a full Christmas dinner! We were also thankful for the gifts and supermarket voucher which allowed us to buy food for another day. Words cannot express my gratitude to Sufra for all you have done. We get hot meals delivered to us twice a week so we don’t go hungry. Thank you to all the angels at Sufra, God bless you.”
Your Donations Will Be Doubled!
This year we are blessed to be supported by the Lady Fatemah Trust and The Beta Charitable Trust who have match funded £30,000 of your donations.
This is amazing news. It means that every pound you donate will be automatically DOUBLED, making your generosity go even further to support the most vulnerable this winter (please remember to Gift Aid your donation to make it go even further still).
What impact will your donations have?
£10 provides 5 hot meals to one of our guests.
£25 provides a family of 4 with food, toiletries and other essentials for a week.
£100 will cover the cost of an advice drop-in, where our advice staff help guests resolve benefits and housing problems.
£250 will sponsor a Community Kitchen for a night, providing a freshly cooked 3-course meal for socially isolated and vulnerable people.
Click here to give someone the Gift of Hope.
Take Part in our Christmas Advent Giving Calendar
This Winter, you can help Sufra combat food poverty in the community with our Christmas Advent Giving Calendar. It’s super easy to use:
- Download the calendar, print it off and stick it on your fridge.
- Every day of Advent, place the relevant food/toiletry item in a box and tick it off your calendar.
- At the end of the month, you will have a box full of items to donate to our guests!
The kids are guaranteed to love it – what better way of showing them that Christmas is about giving, not receiving. Why not organise a collection in your school or workplace?
