PARISHIONERS at Holy Family Church in Newington Avenue have been praised for their donations to a food drive which will be donated to two local organisations.
The week-long food appeal took place from October 16-24 to celebrate the ‘Season of Harvest’ with hundreds of non-perishable food items and toiletries collected by local people. The items will be donated to the People’s Kitchen and the Baptist Church on the Antrim Road
Nuala Prince from the parish, who helped organise the food drive, said the response was “tremendous”.
“We really have a tremendous amount of food collected,” she said.
“It is quite a lean time at the minute for food banks before Christmas. It will go a long way to helping people in the local community.
“We are boxing it up all this week before it will be sent to the two causes and distributed to those in need.
"I want to thank everyone who donated and supported the food drive."
Pastor Albert McDonald from Antrim Road Baptist Church said: “We are very grateful to the parish for their efforts. We have 52 families who come in every Friday. This will enable us to keep supplying them with food and toiletries for the next few weeks.
“There are local people struggling with poverty as well as asylum seekers. This will fill a gap for us in the run up to the Christmas appeal.
“We have seen a massive demand throughout the pandemic and we have seen our demand double in the past six months.”
Paul McCusker from the People’s Kitchen added: “We are supporting between 800-1,000 individuals a week. That is people who are experiencing poverty and homelessness.
“Given the recent loss of the £20 uplift in Universal Credit and increase in cost of living, people are finding it more difficult. Food banks are seeing an increase with many people having to make the choice to eat or heat their homes as well.
“Ultimately our job is to go and reach out to as many people as possible in the local community. The support from Holy Family Parish will enable us to do that and reach more people and more families.”
