An appeal – can you help again this Christmas?

As the weather starts to bite and with Christmas on the way sparking joy across the City – cold, dark and worrisome days will be commonplace for many in Birmingham and Solihull.

Whether it is the rising cost of living; of food and fuel, unemployment, underemployment, stagnant incomes or benefits changes – there continues to be a large increase in the numbers of people and families being referred to food banks.

Redundancy, illness, benefit delay, domestic violence, debt, family breakdown and paying for the additional costs of heating during winter are just some of the reasons why people go hungry or cold.

Over the past year generous staff and visitors have donated more than two tonnes of clothes via the food and clothing bank collection points at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB).

Throughout 2018, Narthex, the charity that handles donations from the hospital and supports their distribution with the Trussell Trust, has distributed 500kg of these clothes back to patients at QEHB.

At the same time, Narthex also provided over 100 food parcels to patients on their discharge.

In the last year, ‘Abdul’, the father of a patient at QEHB was supported by your donations after his daughter suffered a serious injury that required four months of intensive rehabilitation.

Abdul was struggling to look for work with the stress and upheaval of looking after his daughter. It meant that the family were also struggling and so, benefited from your donations that supported them at a very difficult time.

The Christmas holiday period is a time of additional worry and anxiety for people and we need your donations to be able to help more people like Abdul and his family.

Work is continuing to widen this scheme across Heartlands, Good Hope and Solihull hospitals but until then, QEHB can take your generous donations.

If you can, please take your donations of food or clothing to any of the collection points at QEHB (B1 Staff Entrance, Main Entrance/Atrium) or you can take your donation directly to the Faith and Community Centre, Level 1, QEHB.

Thank you for your kindness and generous support.

Food donations

The following food donations are needed to support people across the City:

• Tinned veg
• Tinned meat
• Tinned fish
• Tinned fruit
• Rice pudding
• Custard
• Biscuits
• Sugar
• Juice
• UHT milk
• Powdered milk
• Oil
• Chapatti flour

Clothing donations

The clothing donations listed below are also desperately needed:

• Ladies clothes sizes 8, 10, 12
• Winter jumpers
• Trousers
• T-shirts
• Tops
• New unused underwear
• Men’s clothes needed
• Small and medium sized winter jumpers and t-shirts
• Small to medium trousers/jogging bottoms
• New unused underwear