More than 6,000 meals handed out to people in need
20/01/2021
More than 6,000 meals have been handed out by the Salvation Army in Penrith since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the first national lockdown came into force in March last year, the team has provided more than 6,000 three-course meals or tea and treat bags.
The community foodbank has supported more than 1,200 families with requests for food, toiletries, electricity and gas costs and cleaning products.
The Salvation Army said some weeks had seen demand triple.
As part of the church and charityâs Christmas Present Appeal, they provided more than 120 Christmas hampers filled with gifts and food for struggling families.
Hundreds of local children received gifts thanks to the Salvation Army present appeal Date published: 11 January 2021
Salvation Army corps officer Major Estelle Blake (right) receives a present donation from Medlock Valley School. Image courtesy of the Salvation Army and Reel CIC
More than 400 Fitton Hill children received gifts thanks to the Salvation Army’s Christmas Present Appeal this year.
Teaming up with community group Reel CIC, corps officer Major Estelle Blake, community workers Graham and Kim Rogers, and their volunteers ensured families were helped to celebrate Christmas in an area that has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic.
Determined to spread festive joy, as well as handing out gifts to struggling families, they hosted a Covid-secure Santa’s Grotto at the café and community hub The Brew, which was visited by 200 children.
A mum-of-two who hit rock bottom when her marriage broke down and she lost her home has donated thousands of pounds worth of presents to The Salvation Army’s Christmas Present Appeal – after the charity ‘saved her life’. Simone Williams’s life started to spiral after she suffered a heart attack on Boxing Day 2013, aged just 28 and while pregnant with her second child. When her marriage broke down a few months after her baby was born prematurely, but thankfully healthily, Simone, 35, of Clitheroe, Lancashire, and her two children were forced to move out of the family home. Having given up work so she could care for her daughters, now aged seven and six, Simone fell into arrears on her rented house – and facing the prospect of not being able to buy her children Christmas presents, she hit rock bottom.
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