MORE THAN 300 bags of shopping have been collected for the community thanks to a village church – and they are now preparing to donate Christmas hampers.
Kind-hearted members of Shinfield Baptist Church teamed up with Helping Hands Shinfield to offer support to residents who needed extra support during lockdown, or during school holidays.
The scheme initially started in March in response to the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, but has kept going across the year.
The project is being co-ordinated by SallyAnn Hunt from Shinfield Baptist Church, along with Sarah O’Neill from Helping Hands Shinfield and South Reading and Rachel Walker, who inspired the village to create a school meals scheme and has been volunteering since the spring.
During the quieter summer months, donations were shared with local foodbanks as the number of people requesting help reduced. But the project has had a busy few weeks.
Mrs Hunt, one of the Fairmead Road-based church pastors, said: “We have a team of volunteer drivers and one of them asked, just before half-term, if we could do something for families who were not getting free school meals during the holidays.
“We hastily teamed up with Helping Hands Shinfield and arrange a bigger team of drivers from the church and the community and we asked, via Facebook, for donations of food and if any local households needed extra help at this time.”
As a result, so far, they have helped 49 households across the village, delivered 300 bags of shopping and received £2,000 in donations.
“It has been bonkers busy these past few weeks,” Mrs Hunt said.
“It was at times overwhelming as so many people wanted to help be involved and do things.
“I think this pandemic has caused people to really want to do something to help out which is wonderful.”
Now the focus is on the festive season – the church and its partners are planning the Shinfield Christmas Hamper Project.
This will see it donate Christmas Eve boxes, a food parcel and a bag of Christmas treats.
Children from the village’s primary schools are being invited to give a gift for other youngsters to enjoy.
And the church will give out children’s Christmas storybooks, and a Christmas card.
“We are really excited to be doing this because not only is it giving us an opportunity to love people in our community who are struggling but it is proving to be a wonderful opportunity to bring the community together and help the community give to others,” Mrs Hunt said.
“We are acting as a conduit between the community and those who need help.”
The church welcomes donations of food.
For more details, send an email to: sallyann@shinfieldbaptist.org.uk or log on to www.shinfieldbaptist.org.uk
