Church divines need for Liss food bank
Heather Dolman and Alan Jones - Liss food bank
LISS has become the latest community in East Hampshire to set up a food bank to help individuals and families in need.
Members of all the churches in the village have been working for weeks to get the idea off the ground, and the first donations are due to be handed out this month. The Liss scheme will follow the example of established food banks in Petersfield and Bordon.
Alan Jones, chairman of Liss Churches Working Together, said members of LCWT had visited both Petersfield and Bordon, and had discovered that people from Liss were among those who were claiming food parcels.
That prompted the Liss volunteers to start raising funds and to make appeals for donations to members of the congregation at all the churches.
There was a generous response, and the donated tins and packets are now being stored at a safe location. They will be handed out at sessions at the Triangle centre every Monday and Wednesday. The scheme will operate a voucher system, with each voucher entitling the holder to one bag of groceries.
Mr Jones added that the money raised in recent weeks will also enable the volunteers to provide people people with additional items – such as items of food for people with particular dietary needs, or urgently needed items such as nappies.
“Because the Triangle is just across the road from Tesco it will be easy for us to go over there and buy any items that we do not have,” he said.
He said there had been an “overwhelming” response to appeals for donations of food.Fundraising has also gone well, with more than £250 collected at a carol service at St Paul’s United Reformed Church and at a cake stall outside Tesco Express.
Vouchers are being allocated via a number of outlets, include medical surgeries, the Citizens Advice Bureau, nursery schools and the Crossover centre. Among those who are expected to qualify for food parcels are people who circumstances have recently changed. “They might have moved into the area and found that there is a gap between their benefits being stopped in the area they used to live and being assessed for benefits at their new address,” said Mr Jones.
He said that Liss Churches Working Together was formed three years ago, and added: “We may all have different ways of worshipping, but when it comes to Christian outreach we are all the same.”
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Weather for Petersfield
Thursday 23 May 2013
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 4 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 4 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: North west
