Food Bank Donation Christmas 2022
IT was a surprise Christmas present for Burton YMCA as the charity received a cheque for more than £34,000 at its festive party.
The money came from the Consolidated Charity of Burton, which regularly hands out grants to many organisations in the town as well as awarding education bursaries and relief in need grants.
Consolidated this year had a surplus on its budget for grant organisations and decided to respond to the cost-of-living crisis by handing over £34,647.49 to Burton YMCA to support its foodbank this winter.
The YMCA was holding its Christmas Party at the Pirelli Stadium with several trustees from Consolidated in attendance, who handed over a cheque to Paul Laffey, CEO of Burton YMCA.
Paul said: “It’s an incredible surprise and an amazing sum of money coming at a time when it is much needed as we have seen a rapid rise in demand at the emergency foodbank. This will be a big help as we support vulnerable families through the winter period.
“From the bottom of our hearts we would like to thank Consolidated Charity trustees as this money will go to the heart of the community and help the most vulnerable people in our society.
“We have been running the food bank for 22 years and by the end of May this year we had already done what we did in all of 2021. We have seen record numbers of families seeking help, many coming to a foodbank for the first time. We hear lots of sad stories as people can’t make ends meet with rising food and energy prices and household bills soaring. We have seen people holding down two or three jobs trying to support their family and still needing us.
“This money will go a long way to helping a lot of families.”
Ben Robinson, Chairman of Consolidated Charity, said: “Our aim is always to make a great difference to the lives of the people in our area of our benefit and the trustees could think of no better way of ensuring this money has the maximum impact than handing it over to Burton YMCA.
“The YMCA is right on the frontline in supporting the most vulnerable people in our community at this incredibly difficult time and supporting the foodbank at this time of the year is vitally important.”