As a Rotary club, we are involved in fundraising and service projects.
Annually, we run this project to provide local families with a Christmas Dinner, which they may be unable to afford.
Christmas Dinner in a box
In 2022, we provided 95 dinners, each box contained:
- Frozen Turkey
- Potatoes
- Parsnips
- Brussel Sprouts
- Carrots
- Stuffing
- Gravy Mix
- Batter Mix
- Custard Mix
- Cranberry Sauce
- Mince Pies
2022 - Shopping around
With the cost of living crisis, fundraising was hard, and we had to shop around and look for discounts everywhere to bring the project in at a price we could afford.
We have had to reduce the items we include; we have taken out Christmas Crackers, to reduce the cost and the environmental impact and also had to take out Christmas Puddings.
2 items in the boxes were cheaper (by far) from Asda as part of their Value range. Unfortunately, Asda restricted customers to buying 3 of each per visit. With us needing 95, our club members were constantly in and out of Asda's until we had enough.
We managed to provide the boxes at just under £17.
Turkey Shortage
Every year, there is a reason why turkeys are in short supply. No supermarket will let us order 95 small turkeys to collect a few days before Christmas.
We can't store this many turkeys, so most must be purchased before we pack the boxes. Our members scour Essex for small frozen turkeys, and we often find supermarkets have none left.
Last year, one member managed to get a freezer donated, and another member got a Tesco discount, so we filled that up and only needed about 50 turkeys at the last minute!
Rising Costs - Can we deliver?
With the prices rising over the past year, we suspect this year's boxes will cost around £20, and we are worried we will have to limit the number of boxes we can provide, or take out more items.