Lynne Harvey

Helping at Foodbank At the beginning of this pandemic, (due to age and asthma !) I felt I should stay at home, apart from the allowed hour of exercise and trips to the local shops, it was different, restful, not too bad really, but.....

The novelty soon wore off; like most retired people I had been busy volunteering and doing social activities, but these all stopped and reality kicked in, being home alone for long periods is very isolating.

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With my asthma under control and being otherwise fairly fit and healthy, I needed to be doing something useful, so when the opportunity to help out at Foodbank came up I jumped at it! I’m fortunate I have my pension to live on but I’m very aware that many people have lost work and are facing hardship.

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St Margaret’s is in the heart of the community where I have lived for over 40 years and Fran and Clare who lead this church have such a heart to serve that I was more than willing to work with them. This was the first church I attended in Portsmouth and where my boys were baptised so It is a special place to me and is doing something really important right here, right now, as it should!

It has been heart-warming to witness the generosity of people in this area who have donated so much food and money to enable people who might otherwise struggle to eat decent food, have a bit of a treat, and get the necessary toiletries when we have them. The church has, rightly, been the place which has facilitated this generosity.

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Thanks St Margaret’s and everyone at Foodbank and in the community; it has been a genuine blessing to me to be able to part of the Foodbank team and the St Margaret’s church family during the Covid crisis, delighted to be ‘at your service ’ (4pm Sundays - lol)

 

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25: 35 & 40