AN UPDATE

In 2011 we at The Forge gave out 263 food parcels in mid-suffolk and an additional 60 hampers at Christmas.  To families that had lost jobs, single Dad’s raising children alone, those new to the area, single people at risk of homelessness and the list goes on.

In the first quarter of 2012 we are up 76% on food parcels requested compared to the same period last year. This is huge! Demand is high and the need has never been more apparent. You have all been so generous in meeting this need and so far we’ve not had to turn down a single request. Thank you – keep it up!

This month is an exciting time for the food bank as we partner with St Mary’s, Debenham in collecting food. Their contributions along with our own will ensure that the most needy and vulnerable people in our community are not being forgotten about.

Later on this year we’ll have the opportunity to do another “big shop” collectively as a church but in the meantime I urge you to think about who you’re feeding. It’s a tough time financially for many I know, and maybe at times you’re not sure how you’re going to feed your own children let alone someone else’s. But if that’s not the case, please consider feeding an extra person when you do your supermarket shop.

The recent news of the famine in Sudan/ Ethiopia and the images seen on the TV are so emotional, they really make me think about lucky I am to be living in Britian. I met up with my friend Clare a couple of weeks ago who is home for the summer. She is serving in mission at Bingham Academy in Ethiopia. I asked her about the famine and she said she was unaware of it. It just highlighted to me the plight of the people that are living in the rural areas of Ethiopia and Sudan. Even their own capital city seems oblivous to their plight and struggle. If this was in our country, all England would be aware and pooling resources to help. Even if the people of Addis Ababa were aware I wonder if they would have the resourses to help.

I visited Clare in Ethiopia in January and saw first hand the poverty. The   insert is the inside of a family’s house. One room, consisting of mud floor, coruggated sheets for walls, no electric, no running water, no toilet or washing faciliaties, 2 wooden benches, one double bed to be shared by the whole family mum, dad and 2 children. I’m off to Zambia in a couple of weeks with the Children’s team, apparently i’ll see Africa from a different view point to what I saw in January and i not expecting to see it any richer, in the material sense.
Steve talk a couple of weeks ago really hit home. He mentioned that even if we are in debt we should give, he talked about the women that had her last 2 coins but gave them away. This is reflected inthe people of  Ethiopia when I visited. The poor people that I saw would give their best to their vistors. We had meals in people houses that had so little but they shared with us.  I don’t think anyone in England or in the Forge lives in a home like that of the family that i visited in Addis Ababa. We are not poor like those families, we are rich. Today the collection is going to help those poor people in the famine areas of Africa, we can all help to make a difference and transform peoples lives.

What do food parcels and That That have in common?………..

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you are so busy the time just flies past and before you know it it’s the weekend? Well this week has been like this for me. I haven’t had a night in and it’s now Thursday and I’m thinking of out again, small group is calling.

I really wanted to write this blog after going to the church office last week with Becky and Marcos to pack food parcels. I was in awe of the store of food that the people from the Forge have donated. We had a lovely evening chatting and packing ready for the next lot of parcels to go out. Becky shared that 50 parcels had already been given out. I thought that perhaps once a month would be fine to go over and pack but I think I’m learning not to make assumptions because I got even more excited today I when Becky shared that 59, yes 59 parcels have now been given out. We are beginning to make an impact in the local community. Just this week I gave 2 parcels to 2 homeless 17 year old lads. You ought to have seen their faces when they saw what was in the parcels, they couldn’t believe that people who they didn’t know would be so generous. I have sent letters out again reminding organisations of the Forges’ Food Bank and how to access it. I’m glad I was busy so the blog had to wait a while so I could share the good news that 59 parcels have been distributed. I also apologise for the slight rush in getting it done but as I said it’s one of those weeks, small group is now calling and so is the Take Take concert that I am going to in Manchester on Saturday . Can this week get any better? 59 food parcels parcels and Take That!

I have just celebrated my 50th Birthday in style. I had a party on Saturday night which I truly enjoyed with my friends and family. I didn’t want presents but I asked for donations to help fund my trip to Zambia in the summer. People donated various amounts from £1 to £100 and I now have enough funds to cover the costs. People are so, so generous.

As with any party you need food, well my party was no different. I decided on a hog roast and to keep the costs down, the small group I belong to at church and some friends helped provide the lovely salads. My job was to prepare the desserts with my family and the birthday cake. I decided that I could make a cake cheaper than buying one. You may think I had the easy option, but 5 attempts later and £50 worse off I had produced a cake, not a cake worthy of 1st prize in a cake making contest but a tasty cake that I thought was good enough for my birthday party. I had thought it may have been cheaper to have brought one, but on reflection God had plans for my cakes. The 1st attempt, it was turned into a birthday cake for my son -in- law, the 2nd attempt turned into a birthday cake for Jacob’s uncle, the 3rd went in the bin [ not quite sure God's plan on that one], the 4th in the trifles and the 5th was served at the party and to the church Sunday morning.

All this got me thinking, about John 6 V1-13 feeding the 5000, when so little can be used to feed many. The money I spent could have brought a small cake but instead I created 3 cakes that served several people. Some people will not be as privileged as me and will not be able to afford birthday cake on their birthdays. Some people in the community have very little money to buy food. Jesus cared for people and The Forge follows his example; it offers food to the needy, to those who are not as fortunate, via the food bank. To date 54 food parcels have been given out, 54 families have been helped. With the kindness of food donation at the Forge we can feed the 5000 like Jesus a little donation can go a long way. We now have a good food bank and with parcels in more demand and we are having a packing evening on June 1st at 7.30pm in the Hut next to the church office. If you would like to help pack please let me know by the Sunday before. If we get a good response we can organise a rota to do the packing. I’ll also bring some cake to share!

It’s Easter egg time, with the school holidays and Good Friday looming I wonder how many Easter eggs will your family get through? Some children won’t get any. I was delighted when a couple brought some Easter eggs into church yesterday. They wanted them added to the food bank this week to be given to families who wouldn’t have any. This jesture just adds to the excitement of Sunday 10^th April when folks from the church took part in the REVOLUTION down at Debenham Coop.. Even more exciting was when Becky told me the amount of generosity that the Forge gave. I asked her how much was spent and this was her reply. “Not sure how much money was spent – will get this from the Co-Op at some point, but I would guess at something between £1500 – £2000.”
I can tell you the following that was bought….

57 boxes of Cereal
40 tooth brushes
32 litres of milk
435 Nappies
239 toilet rolls
Enough coffee for 2000 cups and 6240 tea bags
56 packets of biscuits
30 packets of rice

Countless tins of soup, vegetables, fruit, tomatoes, pasta sauces.
Endless amounts of toiletries incl shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, shower gel
Crisps, Pasta, Sugar, washing liquid, nappies, sanitary towels, tuna, pot noodles, baby food, chocolate.”

This just blew me away. Just think how many ‘Jamie’s’ this will help. I was only talking to another young person last week who has received a food parcel from The Forge, They were so grateful.

Now that we have a considerable bank of food. We need to give it out, not just to young people like Jamie but all people in need. As it says in Acts 2 :45 …they gave to anyone in need. I’m now going to write another letter to go out to professionals, updating them on the food bank and to remind them that they can use the food bank when they identify need. We can build on the 20 food parcels already given out. We can start transforming lives now here in our community and if any one knows of a family that will be without Easter eggs, let the church office know we can transform their Easter today!

I sit here writing my first ever blog – and all before breakfast!  With fears of ‘will my written English be good enough’ as I’m skilled in writing with broad Suffolk grammar!  I know I’ll get Sheila to check it, adding to her heavy workload, but I’m sure she’ll say yes.  So thanks Sheila in advance.

Now where was I, breakfast, shall I have Weetabix, or Oats so simple, or toast,  or cornflakes, or fruit and yogurt, this really sends me a message that God is so good to me, I have a job, a family, secure accommodation and enough choice of food not to be hungry. However, there are people out there who are not so lucky. We hear much about the third world but there are people in this country, in our area who find themselves in need.  I have been on a trip to Denver and seen the need out there; I’m planning to go on a trip to Zambia next year to witness, first hand, just how they live and manage. There is need in all corners of our world but my passion is for the forgotten need in this country, in our local area. The need is often hidden as we live in a rural area and people assume we have a good welfare state and benefit system. However, some people have been caught up with our ever increasing materialistic society of ‘have now and pay later’ and when the unthinkable happens, that redundancy, a partner leaving, a death, a young person getting kicked out of home, an expected large bill for a low income family etc  it can be devastating and can take a few days/ weeks to get benefits / money sorted. Not all people have been fortunate enough to have been brought up in families that have encouraged savings or been in the position to save.  Not all people have supportive families to help them. It can creep up on every person in society, whether, young, old, male, female, faith, sexuality, ethnicity etc.  Jesus helped those in need, the vulnerable, the weak, the young, old etc. That is why this food project has been started. To help transform people lives just like Jesus did.

The food parcel project was launched in August last year. We decided to start by collecting food so we could get a bank supply before we started offering parcels to the needy. We have had a slow supply of food being brought along on a Sunday morning and some people dropping items off at the office. Many people I speak to think it is an excellent idea and want to bring food along however, with the busyness of a Sunday morning they forget to put it in their bags, I have found my self in this situation, only to see the display as I walk in the church foyer and think ‘oh, bother I’ve forgotten to bring that tin of meat, never mind next week’ only to do the same. I’ve decided when I do my shopping and buy that one item extra, or to donate that free item of BOGOF to leave it in my car, therefore I won’t forget!  Some people have decided to donate money and leave it in the box on the display table and others have set up standing orders monthly. Nevertheless people have been good and we have a a small store of food and 14 bags have ready been given out. The aim is to put enough food in a bag for 1-2 days, this hopefully gives enough time for the needy to arrange more help, crisis loan etc. Current items that we are short of are – breakfast cereal, individual boxes for single people, tinned meat, pasta, tinned fruit, boxed milk, small toothpastes, deodorants and soap.

The food parcels are administered through agency professionals and organisations. I have written to various agencies within our local community and explained the project. They can ring the church office and request a food parcel. The agencies will be responsible for collecting the parcel from the office and giving it to those in need. If you know of any individual that is in need please speak to a member of the church’s care & support team who can arrange this. Some of the other agencies are: social care, probation, Connexions, health centres, midwives, health visitors, care for the elderly, heart foyers in Stowmarket and Eye, Eye volunteer centre, Stowmarket and Debenham children’s centre. If you can think of any other organisations or agencies that could benefit from this service please give me their contact details and I will send them an introductory letter.

We have had people in the Church sign up to help with setting up the display and taking it down, taking collected items to the church office and shopping and we are in the process of putting together a rota to help with this. If you would like to be involved  just contact me.

I look forward to sharing with you the stories of the people we help; obviously we will keep people’s identity confidential and only share with their permission or give you general information as to how many we have given out. It will be exciting to see this project take off  I feel it is more important than ever now with the Government’s spending cuts, especially to benefits. It also plays into the Governments vision of the Big society.  We can all be part of the big society, simply by playing a small part.