Townsends Cooking - Giving Back This Christmas

I’ve decided to give something back this year and my initial goal was to personally prep and deliver some meals over Christmas and do that on my own, however with everything that's gone on this year, and sadly, what is still left to come, I’ve decided I’m going to try and do something bigger and feed as many families and individuals that need it over Christmas, but the preparation for that has to start now.  What's really upsetting is a lot of the people who find themselves in need and having to rely on help, is due to no fault of their own and just a horrible knock-on effect from not being able to work or even worse, losing their jobs/livelihoods altogether etc. and I feel that’s hit a chord for a lot of people this year, myself included, appreciating how lucky I am.

I've decided to try and do a lot more than just a few meals, and try to feed 100 families. I've already got the green light to work with 2 local churches and a homeless shelter in North Sheilds and I'm close to getting some kitchen space allocated closer to Chrismas to prep and cook, but if not, I'll just do it from my kitchen at home.  I'll be providing as many hot, home-cooked meals as I possibly can over the Christmas period: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

The people who will be getting the meals are going to be people who have asked local charities or churches for help who either have young children, who are vulnerable, elderly, homeless, and this year we have the added upsetting factor of people who need to isolate because of risk of Covid or because of the fear and anxiety of Covid. From speaking to the churches, this additional factor has increased the numbers drastically, which is upsetting.

Separate from the GoFundMe I'll personally put up the money for the purchasing of all the packaging, stickers (believe it or not I'll have to follow some very strict guidelines laid out by the council in regards to the proper stickers for food allergens and cooked on/use by dates etc) and cutlery and every penny donated will go towards the purchase of fresh produce to create the meals, so I'd ask all donations to be in by Friday 11th December so I can plan, confirm final numbers with the charities and church then buy, prep, cook and deliver the food. 

I'll keep you all updated with the shopping and the prep of the food on my Instagram and Facebook, so you can see where your money is going and the volume of food I’ll be creating and delivering! As you can imagine, the more money that gets donated, the more bulk produce I can buy and it'll just increase the overall numbers.

If anyone knows of any other charities or churches that could use my service over Christmas that are local to Newcastle, send them my details and I’ll reach out to them.

Thanks, Ben