Where to start, at the beginning I suppose.....

This will be my third Christmas where I have been providing support to Woking Foodbank https://woking.foodbank.org.uk/ check out their webpage, this should not be required this day and age, but it is for people who find themselves in crisis during the course of the year. 

Every year I have been organising what started out as a village Christmas foodbank collection, but I have to say that this is gradually seeping into neighbouring villages now - which is just perfect :)   Clearly I am doing something right!!!

Over these three years, I have found myself becoming more and more excited about the Christmas campaign and it grows from strength to strength with more people becoming involved and helping out.  It never ceases to amaze me the kindness of some people, especially those that cannot really afford to give.

Local companies have got involved over previous years and below is a list of some, by either donating cash, helping with organisation or food parcels.

Brookwood Club http://brookwood.club/contact-us/ - great place to come for a beer n chat with the locals, these guys were amazing and their continued support is fantastic, brings the community together, helped with taking in the food parcels during opening hours
Brookwood Post Office and Bakers, what can I say you can get a great bacon sarnie, whilst you are waiting to send your parcel, again these guys helped out massively taking in all the food parcels during opening hours 

Tudor News Newsagents
Decor Mate for all your painting and decorating needs
Glassmaster http://www.glassmasterservices.co.uk/   only a small business, but the guys are so friendly and always willing to help out
Brookwood Cars http://www.brookwoodcars.com/contact.aspx
East West Indian Restaurant http://eastwestbrookwood.co.uk/
Brookwood Primary School https://www.brookwood.surrey.sch.uk/
Brookwood Pre-School http://www.preschoolatstsaviours.co.uk/
Cornerhouse - promoting mental and emotional wellbeing  http://cornerhouse.cc
PizzaPlus for your kebabs and pizza - yummy http://www.pizzapluswoking.co.uk/woking/
Bentleys Garage - lovely friendly garage for all your car services, mots etc etc &
Surrey Dry Cleaners, for getting all ya mucky clothes clean.

As you can see there were a few that got involved, but obviously this year I am hoping to reach for the stars and get even more involved...

Last year I decided to send a little tweet out just a casual one saying that I was going to be doing the collection if anyone would like to help out, when it caught the eye of Jon Andrews at Radio Woking, http://www.radiowoking.co.uk/ or DAB radio - who asked if I would be interested in a little ole interview, well that interview turned into weekly slots on Radio Woking from the beginning of November right up to the last week of the campaign when we all attended the Radio Station at Winston Churchill School with Zahir Ahmed of The We Love Woking Show -  we had the best time, just really letting everyone know what the foodbank is all about and getting the word out....

I had several companies involved that were not even in the village including:

(1) Don't Just Sit There Sell Something - www.djst.com this is a telemarketing company, that got involved with the campaign right from the start.  Give them a shout if they can help you....

(2) CSGI who provided cash and food donations visit their website at https://www.csgi.com/    This company is a global leader providing business support solutions, so again if you find yourself in need of a company like this, then do give them a shout.

(3) Swinton Insurance, who are sadly no longer in existence in Woking....such a shame the High Street shops seem to be disappearing.

(4) Welsh Guards in Pirbright - https://www.army.mod.uk/who-we-are/corps-regiments-and-units/infantry/welsh-guards/ now this was absolutely amazing getting these guys on board, at one stage I thought I might have to tuck them up for a tank or something to get all the food delivered in time...First and foremost they serve our nation as fighting soldiers, and also take immense pride in ceremonial roles as the guardians of the royal palaces.  Every Welsh Guardsman strives to maintain the high standards of the Household Division in the continual pursuit of excellence.

Lots of preparations are in hand for the start of this year's Christmas Foodbank Campaign to help those in crisis, posters are done ready to roll out around the village and local companies.  I also have a trolley cart kindly donated by Homebase in Woking https://www.homebase.co.uk/stores/south-east-england/woking, which is currently undergoing a transformation, details and piccies to follow later in the month.  This will enable me to collect food parcels around the village easily rather than taking me grubby ole wheelbarrow...

Last year I found this campaign very humbling with all the different sorts of people getting involved however, little or small.  The most memorable moment for me was when a little old lady came into the local post office and handed over a bag of goodies and she said that she couldn't give a lot, but that she wanted to help, inside her bag was lots of sample toothpastes and ya know it was very heart warming knowing that she was giving and making that difference to someone.

By the end of the campaign which finished on the 8th December, I had collected and delivered to Woking Foodbank just under a ton of food which enabled The Salvation Army to then go on and deliver at least 90 food parcels to people in need.

Anyway i wont go on too much for the first blog else you will all get bored, but please do come back and watch for updates, its all very exciting :)

In the meantime if you wanna start getting involved, please do drop me an email :)