Beechwood Donates Harvest Gifts to Local Foodbank

Once more, Beechwood Park families have donated generously during Harvest. In School, Mr Bullock reminded us all  of the messages behind our harvest collection in a series of assemblies across year groups and this year the Top Form charity representatives visited the Food Bank.  Read more about their visit below…

Last Friday, we arrived at the Trussell Trust food bank in Coldharbour Lane, Harpenden. What an inspiring place to visit – the atmosphere was euphoric; the volunteers there know they are helping others.

People of all ages were packing, sorting all the food by expiry date, types of food and how many people each item will supply.

This Food Bank has been running for six years. At the start of its journey, it served just 100 people, and through the COVID pandemic, it has shot up dramatically to the point that over 1000 packages were being supplied every month. Currently, they are supplying around 300 packages per month. These are three days worth of food; each package will provide enough for one to five members of a household.

From one member of the team, Stuart Miller, we learnt that there used to be 100 Trussell Trust food banks when it first started up in the UK., but this has now grown to over 200o, reflecting the need in society for this kind of support. 

The three of us stepped onto the industrial scale and weighed in at 121.5 kg. Stuart explained that THOUSANDS of kilograms of food had stood there, where we were.

We found the visit to the Food Bank really interesting, and one day would love to help out and volunteer to package and sort food.   Thank you to everyone in the Beechwood community who gave so generously – please keep giving, as we now have seen for ourselves that what we do truly does make a difference to people’s lives locally.

Our visit last week coincided with the Young Minds “Hello Yellow” Day, a day when we consider what we can do to support our own, and others’ mental health. Remember, giving also helps our happiness. 

Thank you again, Beechwood!

Ben M, Ashish G, Alex F and Mrs Manton

Top Formers with Charity Responsibility.