The Trussell Trust need food!

I do a lot of work with numerous different charities and one very close to my heart is Foodbank run by The Trussell Trust. A lot of you probably would never hear of this service which offers emergency food for people in a crisis. Though run by Christian groups, mainly in Churches, anyone is welcome. I have volunteered at Foodbank for only a few weeks after I found out about it through advertising. You may have seen the TV show on BBC1 this week, Britain's Hidden Hungry which gives a real insight into the system and also a little background into why people need to use Foodbank. It isn't all heroin addicts who are there by fault of their own. Some are families who've have an emergency and left them with no money, benefit delays, domestic violence meaning people have had to leave their home quickly - you very rarely hear two stories the same.

When we give out food, is it not luxuries. The Foodbank that is shown on the BBC show is not like the one I volunteer at, or most in the UK. Mostly we give out long life essentials such as pasta, tinned food and long life milk.

If you can donate even a few items of this list, it would mean so much. I started by taking food down and it was then I was asked if I wanted to volunteer. If you go onto the Trussell Trust website, you can find your local food bank. Most towns have them but you can donate online to a different one, if you wanted to. you never know who might need to use Foodbank, so please give generously.

Malawi Jewellery Mini-Haul.

I live in a tiny village in semi-rural Yorkshire, UK. Yesterday, we had our annual village gala (show) that had been postponed from July due to  the terrible weather we had at the beginning of Summer. 

There was a charity there called Monkey Bay which helps run a school in Malawi. They feed the families and tutor up to 50 children at one time. I was given so much information from them, two genuinely lovely women. I have linked their Facebook here. They had sock monkeys, finger puppets, necklaces, pendants, bracelets and other little pieces. All the jewellery was made or brought over from Malawi and was genuinely beautiful. I didn't buy too much - as I had been on a little bit of a splurge for my little one who got so much stuff! 

This is the first piece I bought. The turquoise is wood and so are the little red beads, the black beads are tiny stones. It's a super cute, wearable bracelet. On elastic as it's actually a children's one - yay for small wrists! These are made my the Mother's of the children who attend the school.

This is the second piece I bought which is just a super simple wooden cross on an extendable rope necklace but I love it and it's something I would wear a lot. Again, the wood is from Malawi and shaped over there. They are made my the charity to raise money. Both pieces were so cheap - though I could have bought a lot more. 

Also, bought this little number but this wasn't from the Charity shall. I have a small obsession with thumb rings. I loved this one. It's real silver and very cute! This cost about £5 from someone who lives in the village too. I expect to be getting a lot more from her now she knows. Again, could have spent so much. It was a great day despite the weather though. Long live the small village show!