Hampers Against Hunger

A friend of mine mentioned a charity, Hampers Against Hunger, in one of his Facebook posts about a week ago and it intrigued me. I've been searching for a suitable charity to help out for a few months. Something that I agree with wholeheartedly. This seemed to be it.

Basically, Sean, who conceived the idea, gets together donations of food and home essentials and distributes packs (hampers) to individuals and families who are not so well off financially. He gets nominations for people to donate to via various charities and churches.

I was inspired to help out, but wasn't sure what I could do (being skint as I am).

While at work on Saturday I suddenly thought that it couldn't hurt to ask there. I work at a building where the main client is a successful law firm, they have money. I considered my options and decided to send an email to the Client Services Manager, who is in charge of Reception, Catering and all other Facilities departments. I thought he would be in an ideal position to speak to all the various departmental managers to see what each could spare.

I was pleasantly surprised when I got a reply saying he would have a chat with me. I honestly had expected to either be ignored or the answer to be "No."

I spoke to him on Monday and it initially sounded like it would indeed be a "No," when I said that all I was hoping for was maybe a few cans that were due to expire between Christmas and New Year (when the catering departments are not in). This seemed to change his mind and he said he would probably be able to do something.

I got an email from him today telling me that they would be donating approximately £75 worth of stuff. I was amazed. I will collect it on my last night shift on Tuesday night and take it with me when I go to visit my family a couple of days before Christmas (my family are in Grays and Basildon, and the charity is in Southend, making it an hour and a half diversion, roughly).

It feels good to do good. I hope to be able to get some more donations to take with me too, I'm going to post on Facebook and see what my friends come up with.

Here's a photo of a story about Hampers Against Hunger from their local paper: