St Peter's Yaxley

…reaching out in love and faith

Yaxley Foodbank Annual Report – September 2020

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We have just completed our annual stocktake and I thought it would be a good time to provide an update on your local foodbank.

Firstly, I would like to start with a round of thanks. It hasn’t been an easy time, with some of our volunteers having to temporarily drop off the rota because of age and health shielding concerns. We haven’t forgotten you and would like to welcome you back as soon as is feasible. The remaining volunteers have done a wonderful job continuing to provide a service to those in food crisis since the lockdown in March. Our way of working has had to change in that we are no longer allowed to welcome clients into the building or offer refreshments but we hope the warmth in our welcome remains. We have also developed new patterns of working in the store, which, looking on the bright side, seem to be more efficient than before.

I would also like to thank those groups and individuals who so generously donated to our supplies and to our cash reserves. This has not only enabled us to more than manage the increase in demand, but also to improve the healthy eating options in our provision for clients. Since May we have been issuing £10 Fruit and Veg vouchers that can be redeemed through Kemps, the local Yaxley greengrocer in addition to our standard food parcels. This gives our clients the option to choose fresh produce of their choice to help feed themselves and their families whilst supporting a local small business.

There are specific thanks to the Yaxley Parish Council who continue to support us in many ways and also the East of England Co-operative and Yaxley Co-operative store who support us in food donations. Last Christmas, we were able to donate new toys to the children of the families we support through our Christmas parcels scheme due to the enormous generosity of the East of England Co-operative and their regional customers.

Coming back to our stocktake, the following figures may be of interest to some:
Stock Donated 11,396Kg
Stock Given Out 10103Kg
Food Parcels Issued 243

As you would expect, this is a significant increase of about 25% in both donations and parcels issued on the 2019 figures despite the fact that the summer holiday period was quieter than usual due to the school meal voucher scheme decision. We also expect the coming months to increase demand further as the jobs market starts to tighten significantly. Since lockdown in March we have ceased to request vouchers as we understand that these are not easy to obtain from many of our current voucher holders. Although it is helpful if clients come with a voucher, we do not turn away those in need.

Again, I would like to offer our enormous thanks to all those who have supported us in the past year and we look forward to continuing to help the vulnerable in our community this autumn and beyond into 2021. If you know someone who is in food need, please do not hesitate to encourage them to get in touch with us via email or on the foodbank telephone, 07579825798

Chris & Sue Grant

Hello & Thank You

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I am writing this just a few days after I was licensed as Priest-in-Charge (Vicar) of St Peter’s Church, Yaxley by The Bishop of Ely.  It was an incredibly special service and friends and family came from all over the country.  There was also an unexpected surprise, as people from The Wenlock Team of Parishes which were my previous parishes in Shropshire came to support me for this service.  The community of St. Peter’s Church worked incredibly hard to ensure everything ran smoothly and I would like to thank them.  Along with friends and family and so many people from St. Peter’s Church community, were also many different representatives from Yaxley.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for being there and part of such a special evening.  It is going to take me a good while to get to know people, names and places, but do say hello if you see me out and about and I will eventually get there!  Thank you for coming to support me.

Simon and I are really excited to be in Yaxley and part of the St. Peter’s community.  People have been so helpful as we try to find our way around the village and this side of the country.  I was ordained 6 years ago and have been in Shropshire for these 6 years and before this, I was a nurse working mainly in cancer care for 13 years.

Thank you for your welcome to the village and I am looking forward to getting to know people here.

With every blessing,

Rev Sarah (Vicar)

01733 248690 / 07498 230858

vicar@saintpeters.co.uk

Fostering & Adoption Support

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You may have seen in our social media recently the statistics around children in care in the UK. This year 40,000 children will be taken into care, that’s twice the amount that can be seated into the 02 arena! In Cambridgeshire there are currently over 700 children awaiting loving homes.


Due to the circumstances around the need for adoption and fostering, many adoptive & foster parents face major challenges with children who have multiple difficulties, such as special educational needs, attachment disorders and insecurities. Therefore, parents can become physically and mentally exhausted; which is why a group of people from St. Peter’s Church are getting together to discuss ways in which we, as a community, can support these families who are doing something amazing. We will be guided by the charity, Home for Good, who’s core aim is to find a home for every child who needs one, but we also need help from the community.


We are holding an initial meeting in September at SPC, to discuss ideas of what the support will look like and our hope and prayer is that this will also be guided by others in our community who want to be involved. If you are an adoptive or foster parent, please do come along and talk with us about how we can help support you. If, like many of us involved in this initiative, you’re not an adoptive or foster parent but it is on your heart – come along and chat, share ideas or just listen. Everyone has gifts to offer and we would like to use these gifts to provide the best support that we can for families in our community who are working hard to provide for children who otherwise would not have a loving family.


We look forward to meeting you in September! Look out for the meeting date on our social media and on the Yaxley Gazette Facebook page and if you express an interest with us, we will ensure to inform you of the meeting details, once confirmed.

If in the meantime you’d like to hear from the charity who will be assisting us, you can listen to their talk from their visit in June, by clicking here. 

Try something new in 2019

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Happy New Year!

It’s that time of year where we are thinking about our new year resolutions; maybe giving up smoking, drinking, chocolate or shopping. These things all focus on giving up something but we can also focus on becoming part of something and in turn helping others.

St. Peter’s Church in partnership with Deafblind Enablement run a monthly informal group, named Impaired Senses, for anyone with sensory loss, which we would like to invite you to. There’s two ways to take part and join in the fun:

If you, or anyone you know is finding it harder to see or hear and would like to join a friendly group for games, raffle, fellowship and refreshments, then please come along and meet us.
Alternatively, you could become a volunteer and join the team from St. Peter’s who provide this community group for the village and surrounding area.

The group takes place, as follows:
Where: St B’s Hall, Main Street, Yaxley, PE7 3LZ
When: 3rd Saturday of the month, 2-4pm
Cost: Nothing but a smile

Our next meeting is Saturday 19th January 2019.

We would love to meet more people and with enough volunteers we are able to assist in transport needs, just let us know your requirements. We even have a summer trip to the seaside for fish and chips! For more information on the group please contact Debbie on 01733 686969 or email debbie@deafblindenablement.co.uk

In addition to this group, we work in partnership with Cambs Deaf Church to provide a Signed Service on the 4th Sunday of the month. We are blessed to have two people attend who sign, and can offer both BSL and SSE. Our next Signed Service is Sunday 27th January 2019, at 11am.

May the year ahead hold many blessings for you.
God Bless

Together We Are A Community

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The term community gets used a lot these days but what do we actually mean by community?

In the Bible, God encourages us to take care of one another; through this we ensure a thriving community. Therefore, the idea of community comes from a sense of responsibility that we have for each other.

The community of Yaxley, along with the surrounding villages, have shown overwhelming care for each other through the support of the Yaxley Foodbank over the past year. A staggering 7145kg of food was donated between September 2017 and August 2018. We’ve also recently celebrated the Harvest Festival, where we’ve had fantastic support from the school communities in and around Yaxley.

The donations we receive help many people and families, and we would like to say a big thank you for your generosity in supporting local people in need. We would also like to thank everyone who signpost to Foodbank and all those who volunteer their time to help and be a friend to those in need. It takes a team, a community, to ensure the success of the project.

Without our sense of responsibility to one another, great community projects such as the Community Fridge and the Winter Night Shelter, and St. Peter’s projects like Yaxley Foodbank and Community Sunday, would not succeed. It is through the help and kindness of each other that we are able to improve situations for those less fortunate, and ensure our communities thrive.

Thank you again for your continued support for your community.

If you would like more information on the Yaxley Foodbank, or other community areas God has called St. Peter’s to invest in, please visit www.saintpeters.co.uk/community

Follow St. Peter’s Church on Facebook and Instagram to see updates on the Foodbank’s shopping list.

God Bless

Laura

 

Parish Communications Officer

07939 449255, lauraashley@saintpeters.co.uk