"The community at large can also benefit from “coming to the table", experiencing the quiet satisfaction of bringing their resources to bear for the benefit of others.”
SHARING CHRISTMAS - with 250 of our neighbours
The inspiration for this project was a moving newspaper article that described a young boy going to a food-bank with his mum in December 2019 and asking “could we have a Turkey please?”.
We believe every family on Gower should be able to enjoy a traditional Christmas meal. Some families were identified by our friends from the local food-banks and local schools as needing a helping hand. For Christmas 2020, with generous help from local businesses and with a team of volunteers from across the community, we were able to deliver high quality hampers of traditional Christmas food for 60 families on Gower.
We will be repeating the project in 2021 and will be expanding it to give a helping hand at Christmas to more of our neighbours.
Sgt Paul Rees, South Wales Police
“The reaction from one of the recipients made my Christmas"
Other volunteers shared their reflections on the day:
Councillor Christine Richards
“Each home that I delivered to was delighted to see the hampers arrive and they all said that the hampers would make a real difference to their Christmas. It made me feel a part of something wonderful.”
Rebecca Evans MS/AS for Gower
“The three families I delivered to were blown away by the generosity.”
Mark Child, Lord Mayor of Swansea
“The little boy who came to the door in his elf pyjamas was delighted with the gift, the fact that it was the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Swansea on his doorstep seemed completely inconsequential. We left feeling nearly as pleased as he and his Mum were.”
Tonia Antoniazzi, MP FOR GOWER
“Everyone deserves a Christmas without worry and I know that this project certainly helps make that possible. everyone puts their heart and soul into this project and I look forward to continuing to work with the sharing table next Christmas."
At the Sharing Table, we would like to thank HUGH PHILLIPS GOWER BUTCHER, THE GOWER GIN COMPANY and SHepherd's of gorseinon WHO supported our "Sharing Christmas" project.
After School Cooking Club
Food is at the heart of our charity. With the support of a grant from Swansea Council Food Poverty Fund, we are currently installing a kitchen at a local primary school. Once it is installed and the school is open again, we will be running an after-school cooking club in which the children (parents also invited) will learn to cook simple, healthy recipes and eat them together. They will take the ingredients home and cook the recipe again before uploading pictures of their meals to the school Facebook page. We see this project as a route to building interest in simple, healthy cooking and helping to develop kitchen skills. It also addresses some of the routes to well-being described by NHS Wales.
Building of the kitchen commenced in mid March - exciting times! We will update this page as the project develops.
Thank you to the partner organisations supporting our Cooking Club project, including swansea council and ty croeso, a Clydach-based community venture which provides a range of services to its community and which has secured an anonymous donation to support the first year's running costs of the club.
A charity improving the lives of disadvantaged children in Gower and Swansea.
https://www.justgiving.com/thesharingtable
Reg. Charity Number: 1190056