Grantham Poverty Concern expects Christmas 2024 to be busiest yet
An organisation is expecting to have its busiest Christmas yet again, after an increase in people seeking help over the year.
Every year, volunteers at Grantham Poverty Concern come together to prepare a meal and provide gifts for families from the town and the surrounding area on Christmas Day.
The number of people attending the organisation’s daily sessions have increased by 30% over the last six months, so co-ordinator Chris Thomas is expecting Christmas 2024 to be its busiest yet.
Chris said: “We are expecting more on Christmas day this year. That is just the nature of where we are.
“We knew this was going to come with the continued cost of living problem and also the early release of prisoners, which is not just in Grantham but across the country.
“We could see it coming which in a way has helped us so we could prepare, but we still expect to see the numbers increase.
“If someone said to us five years ago that we would be providing nearly 65 meals a day, we would have run in the other direction.
“Sadly, now it is the norm. There is no quick fix to this and there will never be an end to the situation.
“We have to be realistic, deal with what we have and do the best we can.”
Last year, the organisation provided Christmas meals to over 70 people on the day, and helped over 200 over the festive period.
Volunteers start to prepare the food on December 23 and 24, which families will be able to enjoy at Grantham Baptist Church in Wharf Road on Christmas Day.
They will also give presents to families who attend. Something they are also doing for a second year in a row is creating tailored hampers for families.
Chris added: “Last year 23 families got hampers, which equated to about 140 people.
“It was massively successful. The idea is we include everything in it a family would need for dinner and it takes the cost away for them.
“We get this together by asking other families to ‘adopt’ a family. They are given a family anonymously and are provided with specific ages and genders of that family to get tailored gifts and presents.
“They sort out the gifts and we sort out the food. This enables the other families to help another that is not as fortunate as them.”
Although all of the volunteers for Christmas day are sorted, Chris still invites people to volunteer in the lead up to Christmas or to donate gifts.
He added: “If people want to come and help us for a couple of hours, it enables people to come and see what we do.
“There is also the opportunity to donate gifts for people. We are always incredibly grateful for the help people provide us.”
Anyone that would like to help Grantham Poverty Concern in the lead up to Christmas can call Chris on 07517 943792 or email chris.thomas0609@gmail.com.
