Communities Fund provided £225 of match funding
A Christmas Stocking
Sturminster Newton, Dorset, United Kingdom
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Aim
Christmas can bring added anxiety to those who are already in food poverty. Our Pantry is able to help, but we do need additional funding.
Mission
Our Mission is to provide food, resources and services to any individual or family facing food insecurity. We value the dignity of all those who seek our help and work with them to give them independence.
Each week we have around 100 families needing our assistance, but the numbers are increasing as fuel costs spiral and, living in rural Dorset without good transport links, this hits individuals very hard.
Christmas Stocking project
In December 2026, we aim to provide at least 100 "Christmas Stockings" for these families.
As Christmas is fast upon us, we are asking our community and friends of the Family Hub to help us provide essentials alongside some "nice to have" items to our Members that many take for granted. For example: Christmas pudding; box of chocolates; crackers or tree decorations.
£30 donation will allow us to provide festive groceries to feed a family of 4.
£50 donation will allow us to provide festive groceries to feed a family of 6.
£100 donation will feed 2 families and mean there are some treats on the table too.
Any donation, however large or small, can go towards making this Christmas a special one for young children who do not understand about increased fuel bills!
More about our Family Hub:
Holistic approach
We have a holistic approach when people come to us. Although the immediate issue might be food deprivation, this might be the outward face of deeper concerns:
Debt; unsupported mental health problems; bereavement; divorce; unplanned pregnancy; domestic abuse; redundancy; addiction and loneliness amongst a host of other things.
Services
At our Family Hub we are able to help with all of the above by spending time with the people who come to us and assessing with them the root of the problems they find themselves dealing with. Not only do we listen to them, but we can use our "Pay it Forward" scheme for a decent meal and a top up shop.
By arranging appointments with teams we collaborate with: eg Citizens Advice Bureau and NHS partners or recommending the attendance of our Bereavement support group with Weldmar Hospicecare or our Neurodivergent support group with Mission of Mindset, we want to help people to help themselves.
If you need help filling in forms or applying for a job, we can help.
Monthly donations
We are so lucky to have volunteers and funders who support our community through monthly donations. But we are always looking for more volunteers and more supporters.
Through your donations and volunteering we have been able to help more than 900 families over the last 6 years, but in order to keep this vital service going and pulling people from the gaps into which they have fallen, we need you to help us support our community.
For example - your contribution of the following amounts per month would enable us to significantly help our community:
£15 a month will help us feed a single pensioner household for a month
£40 a month will help us feed a family for a month
£50 a month helps towards our costs of commissioning a Citizens Advisor each week
£100 a month allows us to provide one to one counselling, mentoring and help to a person in crisis
Unlike a FoodBank, we ask our members to contribute £7 towards costs for their shop. They can then choose a good top up shop from our range of fresh meat, poultry, dairy and pick some staples from our shelves too. Fresh bread, fruit and vegetables are free as well as sanitary products, nappies and formula (when available).
The average shop is worth anywhere from £25 – £40 and is a life saver to so many of our members.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 24th December 2026 at 12:46pm