Requests update

When I arrived at the Vineyard Centre on Wednesday morning, there were 6 or 7 Storehouse bags waiting to be collected, indicative of what a busy week and month it has been so far. As we had to make up plenty of bags, we are as a result running low on several items. We are right out of Tinned Fish, Shower Gel and Deodorants. We are also running low of tinned meat and meaty meals, instant noodles etc, pasta sauces, tinned desserts (we have just one tin), small packets of cereal, long life milk and tea bags. Please feel free to drop any gifts in at the Vineyard Centre during the week, especially if you would normally take them to Kinship and you might not be meeting up over the Summer. We really do appreciate all your gifts, because even one or two cans make a difference. It is wonderful that as a church we are all a part of this ministry as we give, and as we show God's love to needy people around us, in a practical way. Thank you.

Urgent requests update

After a brief lull in June, the start of July has been very busy for Storehouse, with over 30 bags having gone out already this month! As a result we are right out of tinned desserts, long life milk, deodorant and shower gel, and running low on tinned fish, tinned meat and meaty meals, potatoes (tinned and instant mash), cereals, pasta sauces, toothpaste and soap. Storehouse gives us a wonderful opportunity to reach out to needy people and, in a non judgemental way, demonstrate some of God's love for them. As you continue to give food and toiletries, that is what you are doing, and it really does make a difference. May God bless you as you do this. Thank you.

June stats

June this year was not as busy as last year, following a very busy May. We received 47 requests from 10 local agencies plus several non-agency requests, which resulted in Storehouse giving away 59 food bags to needy people in and around Bury St Edmunds and West Suffolk. As Louise was saying on Sunday (if you haven't heard her talk you can download it from the WSVC website), this is only possible because of what YOU do, as you continue to support this ministry. We are very grateful for everything that you give and let's pray that as we give, lives will be changed. Thank you

By way of an update on the requests front, we have recently received a large consignment of tinned soup, so for the foreseeable future we won't need any more tins of soup to be given to us, thank you. We are still short of several items though, as per last week's notice, in particular
cereals, instant mash, tinned meat and veg. Please feel free to drop any donations in at the Vineyard Centre, or bring to our Sunday morning Celebration. Thank you.

Requests update

I know the requests haven't been updated for a while, but the items we have needed have been pretty much the same. Just to keep things up-to-date, we are right out of the following:

• tinned meals (like ravioli, spag bol etc)
• tinned fish
• tinned potatoes
• shower gel

and we only have one carton of long-life milk left in the cupboards.

We are also running low on the following:

• tinned meat
• instant mash
• pot noodles and cup-a-soups
• cereals (variety packs or splittable packs like Weetabix are really great)
• snacks and cereals bars
• other toiletries - toothpaste, razors, deodorant, shampoo etc

We are truly grateful for everything that you give; when I spoke to people at the CAB AGM (see earlier posting), the question they kept asking was "where do you get all your food from". They were consistently amazed at the generosity that you show in bringing so much food to help people that you don't know, but who are struggling and in need. As we reach out in this way, I am sure that our actions touch more people than we realise, so please be encouraged. You really do make a difference, and may God bless you as you do so. Thank you.

CAB AGM

On Friday 19th of June I had the pleasure of attending the Annual General Meeting of the Bury St Edmunds and District Citizens Advice Bureau. We regularly receive requests from the CAB and it was lovely to join with them, have a bite to eat and meet some familiar and some unfamiliar faces. The statistics reported were quite an eye opener - 7 out of the top 10 requests in 2008-2009 related to either debt or benefits; total debt dealt with amounted to over £2.5 million; 14,522 client contacts were made; for the first time they had more benefit enquiries than debt - a measure of the huge increase in Job Seekers Allowance and other means tested benefits queries they received as a result of the worsening economy. The majority of the people who work at CAB are voluntary, but they provide an invaluable service to the community as they seek to provide free, independent, confidential and impartial advice.

May Stats and requests update

Storehouse had its busiest May ever; we received 71 requests from 10 local agencies, plus one non-agency request. This resulted in us giving away 83 bags of food and toiletries to needy people in and around Bury St Edmunds during the month. As you might imagine, the food that comes in doesn't stay in the cupboards for very long when we are this busy, and so while we will gladly accept any non-perishable food you can give us, the items we particularly need at this moment are as follows:

• tinned meat, meals and fish*
• pasta sauces*
• pot noodles*
• cup-a-soups*
• tea bags
• long-life milk (we have one pint left)
• cereals (especially multi-packs which can be easily split)
• toothpaste*, deodorants and other toiletries

We have run right out of items marked *.

We are able to help all sorts of people through Storehouse - young, not so young, single, families, those with homes and those without. All of the people who come to Storehouse are in need though, but for many their need might be short term, as they wait for Benefits to be sorted, or other matters to be resolved. Your donations of food and toiletries help these people through the next few days, and hopefully demonstrate to them that they are not forgotten and hope-less: as we help them, we show that God has not forgotten them and that he cares for them. Through Storehouse, we are able to share God's love with desperate and needy people, and every can that we give makes a real difference. Thank you.

Requests update

If you've been watching this blog lately, or taken a note of the requests on our board at our Sunday morning celebrations you'll notice a continuing theme: we're fairly low on just about everything! That's still continuing, I'm afraid, so if you use this space to inform you of what we need, here goes:

• tinned meat and meaty products (eg ravioli etc), tinned fish
• tinned vegetables, tomatoes, pasta sauces
• instant mashed potato, tinned potatoes, pasta & rice
• pot noodles & similar
• tinned fruit & other desserts
• long life milk
• tea bags
• cereals* especially multi packs, as they can be split easily and safely
• toiletries

The fact that we need so much demonstrates how much we are giving out; I'll update the stats for May later in the week, but it has been a very busy month. It's wonderful that together we are able to help so many needy people, from all sorts of walks of life and in many different situations, and to show in this practical way God's love for them. Thank you.