SJ Group Christmas Project
The SJ Group were fortunate to been awarded a grant from Peabody Youth Engagement for a project at Christmas making hampers for the Central Southwark Community Hub Foodbank.
The Foodbank is one part of the community hub which also offers support to members of the community in need especially during the pandemic. They were originally open 2 days a week but since Covid 19 are now open every day; they used to have approximately 30 regular clients but they now have about 600 every week.
They offer school holiday support to parents, help with financial problems and advice and guidance. They also have a community café where visitors can access all the support offered.
The SJ Group decorated hampers, wrote Christmas cards and then filled the hampers. Each hamper was filled with:
- 2 packets of biscuits
- A packet of sweets
- A washable Christmas mask
- Hand sanitiser
- Hand cream
- Shower gel
- A Christmas cracker
- A box of Maltesers
- A pair of gloves
The hampers looked amazing – Ms Hellen and Teresa Crowley delivered 12 hampers on the 16th December. They were so pleased with the hampers which will be given to regular clients.
The Foodbank have invited the SJ Group to visit the project once we are allowed school visits again.
We are very grateful to Peabody for their support.
UPDATE
Below is an email we received from the Felicia Boshorin, Chief Executive Central Southwark Community hub, about the hampers:
I wanted to thank you so much for your donation of Christmas Hampers to Central Southwark Community Hub.
It was amazing to receive such a generous contribution from your students. We could really see the love and effort that had gone into each hamper.
In 2020, more people than ever before used our foodbank. Many of them have no access to benefits, which means no universal credit, no jobseekers allowance, no social housing, no free school meals and no social safety net for when times get tough. After such a difficult year, we were delighted to be able to support all those in need.
We distributed your hampers to elderly Southwark residents - we could see how grateful they were for the support and how much it meant to them to feel part of the community.
Overall, we provided hampers to 257 local families. We could not have done this without the support of you and your students.
Thank you once again.
