The last few weeks have seen Gateway staff go into overdrive collecting food and other essentials for our food banks. We’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of our donors, including many of our partner organisations, like Narthex, Healthy Minds and Birmingham Registry Office, as well as our own staff and members of the public.
In the video below you can see how Gateway staff used many of the donations to put together personalised Christmas hampers for their clients. We also hear from Shanaz, with her new baby, talking about what the donations mean for her.
The hampers include food, but also essentials such as toiletries, nappies and baby clothes; and some small wrapped gifts, so that older children have something to open on Christmas day.
The arrival of a baby should be an exciting time and something to celebrate, but financial issues can make it a time of worry. For families below the breadline, having a baby puts a immediate pressure on already unmanageable finances, so we want to do what we can to ease these concerns. Whether the situation is short term or not, a one-off parcel like this provides food and other essential items to bridge a gap.
“Equality of opportunity” doesn’t just refer to having enough money or food; we think everyone has the right to be happy, too. We hope that by providing some practical help, along with the emotional support that our Pregnancy Outreach Workers already offer, we can take away some of the stress and give families the chance to enjoy bonding with baby.
0 Comments