Seven hundred 'bags of kindness' given out by Maidenhead churches

More than 750 bags of support items tailored to individuals in need were organised by a collection of churches in Maidenhead.

St Peter's Church, Maidenhead, is involved in the Love Your Neighbour national scheme.

This works through a network of 88 hubs which mobilise and partner with organisations across their town to ensure the needs of the most vulnerable are met ‘through local neighbourly activity, connections and support.’

St Peter's is a local hub of Love Your Neighbour. These hubs try to do things throughout the year to help the community. For example, this church offers a weekly community lunch for the isolated elderly.

As part of the Love Your Neighbour Scheme, the church coordinates Love Christmas. Now in its fourth year, Love Christmas brings together churches, businesses, schools and others, 'to promote kindness and connection over anxiety and isolation and reach those that are struggling or alone.'

This year, it worked with eight other Maidenhead churches to raise money to fill and distribute over 750 ‘bags of kindness’ to people who are having a particularly difficult time this year.

These went to refugees, asylum seekers, the elderly, those isolated and local schools, which themselves identified families for people facing hardship.

This year, the project was £15,000, where the group produced its own bags to the value of £20 each, containing items geared towards each individual recipient.

Many contained gift cards so that families and individuals could treat themselves over this season.

Rev David Short of St Peter's Church said:

“Thanks to the generous support received from the local churches there was some money that was unallocated.

“Having seen the article in last week’s Maidenhead Advertiser highlighting Foodshare’s urgent needs, we decided to make contact to see how we could help.”

Read more about the help offered to Foodshare by the churches and other members of the community.

The churches involved included:

River Church, Maidenhead

The Church of the Good Shepherd, Maidenhead

Jubilee Community Church

All Saints Boyne Hill, Maidenhead

St Edmund Campion

St Joseph's

Maidenhead United Reformed Church

St Mark’s Hospital Church

St Peter’s Maidenhead

The schools who got involved include:

Altwood CofE School

Newlands Girl's School

Furze Platt Secondary School

Furze Platt Infant School

Furze Platt Junior School

Courthouse Junior School

Alwyn Infant School

Cookham Dean CofE Primary School

Little Fishes Pre-School

Burchett's Green CofE Infant School

St Luke’s Primary School

St Mary’s Catholic Primary School