Christmas Hampers for Norfolk Communities

Aim

To provide emergency Christmas hampers, full of food and essentials for people experiencing severe hardship or crisis this winter.

We need your help to fund and distribute emergency packages of food and essentials to those hit hardest by the Cost of Living crisis this Winter.

We are Future Projects, a charity supporting disadvantaged communities across Norfolk. Every year, we rely on the generosity of local people and organisations to donate items to fill and send out Christmas Hampers for those struggling to get by. This Winter, we need extra help to make sure we can fill enough Hampers for all those in need.

Hamper recipients are those in the most severe circumstances. Households which have to make impossible choices on a daily basis, such as whether to turn the heating on or provide food for their children. Tragically, the Cost of Living crisis has pushed so many more already vulnerable families into extreme hardship, meaning many more people will be in need of emergency support this year.

Each Hamper is packed full of fresh fruit and vegetables, toiletries, daily essentials, long-life tins and cupboard items, as well as everything needed for a Christmas meal and wrapped presents for children. Receiving a Hamper means these households can have a break from their struggles and instead enjoy Christmas like the rest of us, knowing they have enough to get by.

The pandemic caused a steep rise in need for emergency food packages, meaning significantly more Hampers were needed in 2020 than the year before. Thanks to immense support from local businesses and people, we were able to provide all that were needed: sending out 242 Hampers in 2020 (up from 116 in 2019), with 525 people benefitting from their household receiving a Hamper. 

This year, our support teams have been inundated with requests for help, from people who simply don't have enough to pay for essential living costs. They are encountering more and more people who are refusing to turn their power on for fear of unpayable bills and increasing extreme cases, such as collecting rain water in buckets to flush toilets and wash clothes. 

We won't know exactly how many people are in need of a Hamper until December, but with living costs still continuing to rise, we are preparing for our list of recipients to be substantially longer this year.

But we know that with enough support, donations and volunteers, we can fill and send out Christmas Hampers to everyone in need of extra help and support this Winter.

All Hamper recipients are followed up with by our specialist support workers, to ensure they are able to manage and to provide ongoing support if needed.

Your donations can provide: 

£3 – Some daily essentials, such as milk, toilet roll, pasta and fruit

£5 – Christmas lunch for an isolated individual

£12 – Christmas presents for two children

£15 – Everything needed for a Christmas lunch for a small family

£35 – An entire Christmas Hamper for an individual

£60 – A full Christmas Hamper for a family of four

Thank you!

This project successfully funded on 11th January 2023