Christmas time is truly a time of giving in the charity sector. We were fortunate to be joined by numerous groups and individuals who provided our guests with winter essentials, blankets, gloves, hats, socks, clothes, face masks, rucksacks, and lots of other items.
Our Boxing Day distribution was well stocked to support guests who couldn’t access winter shelters for whatever reason. We hope we provided them with a welcoming alternative and lots of extras that helped make this time of your more special.
It was sad to see numbers at our Boxing Day distribution up by more than 25% this year!! Thankfully we’d planned for extras and no one went without!
A special treat this time of year was the pizzas from Franco Manca … donated by the restaurant and distributed to guests who wanted that as their vegetarian option!
2021 ends with a beautiful success story for COA. A regular guest who has benefitted from our distribution for years has now been rehoused and no longer needs our service. That is a great achievement in itself, but when he stopped coming to collect food he returned to volunteer and that put an even bigger smile on all our faces. He said he thought of us like family and he wanted to come back.
Let’s hope 2022 brings with it lots more positive news and the ability for our guests to become self-sufficient and on the road to a better future.
