By Cheri Mccarthy

Hurstpierpoint Food Bank, situated in Willow Way, runs on Wednesdays from 9-11.30am.

At this time of year there are a lot of people struggling to put food on the table let alone when they were thinking about Christmas. On the flipside of this, our community is very generous and we have received donations locally from the Methodist Church (for Harvest Festival) and from The Hobina Choir, who recently collected £93.67 at a performance at the Players Theatre.

We also have been fortunate enough to receive a huge food donation from Downlands School in Hassocks.

Teacher Mrs Kirsten Gaymer explains: “This term the Global Ambassadors have been considering the global problem of hunger. They discovered it’s not just a far away problem and, whilst there are millions of people suffering from hunger around the world, there are also many families in Sussex that can’t afford the food their family needs.

“The Ambassadors decided to take action by organising a school-wide food collection for local Food Banks. There was a huge response, and on Wednesday 14th December two minibuses full of food and keen students visited the Hurstpierpoint and Burgess Hill Food Banks to deliver the mountains of tins, pasta and Christmas food donated by Downlands students and staff. The school collected over 2000 items.

Mr Wignall, Headteacher at the school, said:”It is so heartening to see how generous our students have been in supporting this worthwhile campaign. I am very proud that Downlands helped local families to have a better Christmas.

The volunteers who work at the Hurstpierpoint Food Bank were delighted and truly humbled at the generosity of the local community.

For more information about the local food banks visit: www.burgesshillfoodbank.org.uk