Wednesday 23 January 2008

Requests update plea(se)

We have received a lot of food and toiletries from you over the last few weeks, for which we are truly thankful, but as quickly as it comes in, so it goes out as well. Around 20 bags have gone out just in the last week and so we are running low on the following items and would appreciate these in particular:

  • ANY food that can be eaten without heating
  • tinned meat* and meat products*
  • tinned vegetables and tinned tomatoes*
  • mashed potato* and tinned potatoes*
  • pasta sauces*, dried pasta and rice, pot noodles
  • tinned fruit and desserts
  • small long life milk*, small bags of sugar*
  • small packets of cereals*
  • ALL toiletries*
  • Baby food

Thank you (* we currently have NONE of these left in the cupboards)

Open Door, Thanks

Do you remember back in December we joined with Colchester Vineyard and gave 55 food bags to Open Door in Colchester for their people as a Christmas gift. Since then two of their homeless guys have died and so they have been involved helping sort out funerals and coroners, as no one else wanted to. However, they have taken the time to send us an email thanking us for the bags we and Colchester gave them, and I have copied out part of it below:

We had a really good Christmas lunch. There was a really good atmosphere and everyone behaved impeccably. After everyone had finished their main course, Graham (the Monday Team Leader) explained that everyone would be getting a food parcel from WSVC - what I found so pleasing was the fact that, without any prompting from Open Door staff, a spontaneous round of applause was started.

In the days & weeks after, so many of our customers have commented on how kind & generous your gift was & wanted to express their appreciation. Some even commented how they would have gone hungry on Christmas Day if it had not been for your provisions.

So on behalf of both the staff & particularly the Customers of Open Door, please accept our most sincere and grateful thanks to all those at WSVC in both Bury St Edmonds & Colchester.

I would also like to encourage you in your Warehouse Ministry - and we will continue to pray that God continues to bless you all as much as you have been a blessing to others!

Wednesday 16 January 2008

Requests update

Storehouse has given away 27 bags of food and toiletries in the last week and so we are in need of several items as follows:
  • ANY food that can be eaten without heating
  • tinned meat and meat products*
  • tinned vegetables* and tinned tomatoes*
  • mashed potato* and tinned potatoes*
  • pasta sauces*, dried pasta and rice
  • tinned fruit* and desserts*
  • small long life milk*, small bags of sugar*
  • small packets of cereals*
  • ALL toiletries*
  • Baby food

(* we currently have NONE of these)

Please consider these items over the next week and feel free to drop anything in at the Vineyard Centre if you would like to. And remember, even one or two cans can make a difference.

Thank you.

Wednesday 9 January 2008

Requests update...

There is never a particularly quiet time of the year as far as Storehouse requests are concerned and at the moment we are running low on the following items:


  • ANY food that can be eaten without heating
  • tinned meat
  • tinned vegetables* and tinned tomatoes
  • mashed potato* and tinned potatoes
  • pasta sauces*
  • pot noodles and other packet meals
  • small long life milk*, small bags of sugar*
  • small packets of cereals
  • ALL toiletries*
  • baby food

Please consider these items for donating to Storehouse and in particular the items marked* as we currently have none of these. Please remember that one or two cans does really make a difference and if you can only give just one or two items, it makes a big impact to someone who has nothing and can go a long way to filling the bags that we need to give out.


Thank you

Happy New Year

In December 2007 Storehouse received 48 requests for food bags resulting in 61 bags being given away via 10 different agencies plus some non agency requests. The total requests for 2007 was 530, up from 327 in 2006, and resulted in a total of 669 bags being given away (412 in 2006) via 20 different agencies plus non agency requests. In addition to this, we also gave a further 55 food bags to Open Door in Colchester, so that in total we gave away over 700 bags. This is a huge amount of food and toiletries and a big increase on the previous year. Thank you for making this possible. Without the continuing donations of food etc, week in and week out, this would not have been possible. But it also demonstrates that as the supplies come in, so the needs are met, and as the needs arise the food comes in. We are thankful that we have not been in the position where we have had to say to anyone that we have no food to give them. So thank you for making this possible; this ministry of West Suffolk Vineyard Church can only function through the kindness of all of those who donate to it, and everyone who does so plays a vital part in meeting the needs of those whom we seek to help. Thank you, and may God bless you in 2008.