We all have a friend or family member like Jim, a story to warm your hearts these dark days

Today at We Care Food Bank at Kath's Place in Deptford we had a visit from a local resident a really wonderful elderly gent who through family & health crisis had spent many years homeless on the street but through the kindness of strangers had been given a housing association flat in Lewisham .

Before Christmas he dropped by our community hub & charity shop with a low income he wanted to buy presents for his elderly mum , friends who had supported him , presents he had not been in a position to give, before finding his forever home , he sort our advice & we matched him with a wonderful real stone neckless for his mum a selection of books for other family & friends plus some bric brac retro items the lot for under ￡5 his family have not had a present from him in years & he came to thank us & tell us how much the presents he bought at Kath's Place were so loved , in conversation as he was leaving he said " i don't have much money at the moment but when i do i will drop by again " We Care food bank this week is full of fresh fruit & veg , meat , milk , bread etc , so we asked him if he would be so kind as to take a loaf of bread & few things we had spare needing a home to go to, we filled the bag with bread, meat, lots of fruit & veg with some carrots on the top , 2 minutes after he had left our community hub , he arrived back in tears and told us that yesterday he had been walking around Brockley & he found a wonderful pressure cooker but due to his low income he had no money to buy anything to put in the pot a treasure he had longed for & yet in the moment was to poor to use it, he thought to himself when he could , he would buy some potatoes & carrots to make something special , having left Kath's Place he noticed the carrots sticking out of the bag we gave him & it all became to much for him .

Please chip in to help out GoFundMe page https://gf.me/u/x8m3fw  .

Jim is not his name , we have not used his real name out of respect , but this is a real, true story one of many that happen every day at We Care at Kath's Place , only made possible by the kindness of strangers, our awesome community who refuse to allow anyone in our area go hungry , the woman who comes in once a month spends 50 pence & secretly seeks ￡20 into the donation box, the young woman just made redundent who once a month drops by to pay the food pantry shop of another young woman in crisis , both strangers but both supporting each other through this crisis , the stranger who set up a direct bank standing order to pay ￡20 into our We Care account who we are clueless who they are , so cannot thank them and our team of volunteers who make the magic of kindness happen and our new team members who have joined my & Toni on our communities frontline this crisis , Sue who sorts our designer labels as well as your donation sacks.

Elli whose just joined us to help us sell our quality stock online to help generate cash that we are losing from people NOT coming to shop at Kath's Place.

Giorgio who has created a Photo studio on our stairway to showcase our stock ready for tinted 7 Bepop .

Dylan an extraordinary black woman who has joined us in the shop whilst also looking after one of our mums who was recently made redundant with 3 kids to feed whilst having to shield at home alone & new Deptford resident Ruth who has just moved to London with Deptford her home whilst our team has also been joined by Shixuan a young woman student from main land China studying at Goldsmiths , with ITV flagship programme ITV Tonight featuring our work in a 30 minute show with Marcus Rashford on 11 February 7.30pm the film about our work shot during lockdown FEEDING LEWISHAM winning international film awards & whilst we are delighted we have been given the Lewisham Mayors award for services to the people of Lewisham , we still have not received one penny from Government or a cent from the @1.8million the Government gave Lewisham council weeks ago to help grassroots orgs like us on the frontline leading to us sending in a freedom of information request to find out were is all this money going, because we are not aware any org we work with getting any funding why we all have to do GOfUNDME page to fund our work and buy the food

We Care gets NO Government or Council Funding and depends on kindness of strangers YOU to donate via this Go Fund Me page or shop at Kath's Place ..This is OUR Communities story, the film we made during lockdown first time so you can see how important our work is and why we need your donations NOW , enjoy this short film. Click on the link, and if you think we are worthy, please donate to support our work as every day is a struggle to survive whilst the demands on the services we offer has never been more needed Please chip in to help out GoFundMe page https://gf.me/u/x8m3fw  .

vimeo.com/carabowen/down…

Feeding Lewisham

On February 11 The flag ship ITV Tonight programme will feature us with Marcus Rashford part of this 30 minute programme about the changing demands of a Food Bank Britain.

Please buy your face masks , PPE etc at Kath's place, donate to this fund me page or in our shop donation box or think about setting up a monthly donation to We Care. Cooperative bank account sort code 08-92-99 account number 65659328. needless to say, NONE of Wew Care team are paid, every penny goes to support these projects and the building that we must have to operate, whilst we can pay the rent the security to operate a service that should be offered, paid and run by the Council but sadly in the real world its let to us and you to safe lives and ensure our neighbours and their kids and pets eat at least one meal a day. How would you cope if your income was cut by 30% ?.

We Care At Kath's Place 50 Friendly Street Deptford opened on October 1, 2020, ( after running since 2014 from a network of peoples homes and gardens.) . as a community hub, Internet support .charity shop, support, legal and consumer law advice centre, as well as a base for its We Care Food Bank the largest Independent Food Bank, only one open 7 days a week offering food that reflects people dietary needs and everything from sanitary towels, to nappies, washing powder and loo roll in the UK and its new food model to support people in work who due to covid have seen a 30% cut in their monthly wage, cash they would usually count on to buy food, and gets NO Government or Council funding and depends on the kindness of strangers donating without YOUR help .

Please chip in to help out GoFundMe page https://gf.me/u/x8m3fw  .

Tackling climate change and finding solutions to poverty and waste are not new to Kaths Place, one project we offer saves parents ￡400-￡600 a year they usually spend on disposable nappies that damage the planet and further keep low-income households in poverty, We Care at Kath's Place is one if the rare places in the Uk parents can for just ￡5 ( free if you use We Care Food Bank ) buy bamboo nappies that do not need a washing machine, are biodegradable, look fantastic and with a pop button system grows with the baby, so one nappy can be used safely the entire nappy cycle of a baby

This Crisp packet project needs your help, can you collect and drop crisp packets at Kath's Place Deptford? Could you set up a project in YOUR school, YOUR community? it needs little space and little funds in global terms to get started

The reality for so many people in the present crisis. Rents are so high in our area that people in work do not have enough cash to pay the rent and, probably for the first time in their lives, are having to trade a visit to their local coffee shop for a visit to the We Care Food Bank and Food Pantry for help, advice, support and solidarity. Embarrassed and even ashamed, but even more desperate and distraught that their kids are going hungry, mums tell us that they can go days without food, and, on average, it takes people at least a week of going hungry before they finally come through our doors and ask for help. We really do need your donation. GoFundMe https://gf.me/u/x8m3fw  .

We would also ask that you buy from the Community Hub at Kath's Place Deptford or buy ethical gifts, fashion , books from; www.kathduncan-equality-civilrights-network.co.uk, Since We Care was launched as the UK's largest independent food bank and advice and support hub in Lewisham in 2014, it has always ensured that, during school holidays and Christmas, children and the hungry families they come from do not have to worry about putting food on the table. This half term, however, and over this coming COVID crisis , we truly need your help to feed the new wave of people and pets from across London who are in crisis and will be coming through our doors this winter at Kath's Place, 50 Friendly Street, Deptford SE8 4DR.

( please sign here and share -email across your network we are so close to get a Government response when we hit 10.000 signatures as Marcus Rashford did ) https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/328533) because a parliament petition is the only platform the Government has a legal obligation to respond.