Holbeach Community Larder and Cafe volunteers work hard to deal with flood of donations
The tenth Spalding Guardian Christmas Foodbank Appeal is in its fourth week and South Holland is wasting no time in showing its generosity.
Schools, sports clubs, businesses and the public are all answering the call to show some festive goodwill to individuals and families hit by redundancy, low income, benefit delays or homelessness.
But the need for more donations, which can be dropped off at the Guardian's office at 4 Francis Street, Spalding, is still great as the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect people's plans for Christmas this year.
The Trussell Trust, a charity supporting more than 1,200 UK foodbanks, confirmed this month that more than 1.2 million emergency food parcels were given to people between April 1 and September 30, the busiest six-month period on record.
Thankfully, as the need increases, so does the response and in the case of Holbeach Community Larder and Cafe, donations from the town and beyond will enable more than 50 Christmas hampers to be delivered to families in the area.
The Rev Rosamund Seal, vicar of Holbeach, said: "The community response has been phenomenal and our volunteers are working exceptionally hard to organise the logistics of preparing all the hampers for each specific family, getting them labelled and ready for delivery before Christmas.
"We have had referrals for 52 Christmas hampers to be delivered to those identified by our schools, adult and children’s social services, housing departments, South Lincolnshire Domestic Abuse Service and Citizens Advice South Lincolnshire, along with our own referrals.
"These 52 parcels will provide food and Christmas items, such as mince pies, chocolates and Christmas puddings, to 170 people in total.
"We will also be giving every child under 16 at least one present, many of them provided by Holbeach United Community Football Academy and Fun Farm Spalding, as well as a number of individuals."
Rob Bell, chairman of the academy, said: "As a sports club that is part of the hub of the community, we felt very strongly that we needed to do something for the children and families who may otherwise have been struggling.
"Every year, for the past three years, club managers donate money to our fundraising committee and the club then donate funds itself to top up the amount raised.
"The aim is simple - to purchase gifts for under-privileged children and provide food required by the local foodbank to supplement its supplies, helping its volunteers to provide food packages for struggling families.
"In addition, we engage with our local community and our local businesses to further boast our funds and ability to help."
Karen Slator, co-owner with husband Albert of Fun Farm Spalding, said: "We are really pleased to be able to supply Holbeach Community Larder with children’s Christmas presents to go along with all the hampers they provide to families in the local area.
"We would like to thank our staff and family members who came along to sort and wrap the presents for us."
Carol Dawson and Sharon Richards, staff members at the Fun Farm, said: "We were happy to come and volunteer for such a wonderful cause.
"In fact, we really enjoyed it and felt that, despite the current situation, it helped us get into the spirit of Christmas."