It’s time to say goodbye and good riddance to 2020. We also want to say thank you for all the responses to our Christmas message. As promised, this update covers the facts and figures for this month.

What Are We Doing?

Over December, our figures were:

• Regular food parcel and supply support to 217 households, comprising of 616 people (346 adults, 236 children, and 34 babies)
• Supporting 65 households with new and expectant mothers, supplying them with formula milk, nappies, etc
• Over 157 emergency food parcels a month, going to an average household of at least 2 people
• Ongoing support to 25 households who need help collecting prescriptions, doing shopping, etc
• The Kitchen Collective is providing reheatable meals to 136 households each week, and 40 to Rose Hill Junior Youth Club, as well as ad hoc provision to various homelessness charities, social workers, and to the Oxford City Council housing team. 
• Over the Christmas period, and in partnership with the Dragon School, we distributed an additional 2,700 meals
• Since it began, the Kitchen Collective has delivered over 22,500 meals

How Did We Spend Donations?

We have increased our budget for the period of November to January. You can see a breakdown of spending for November below.

Partly, this is due to a very steep increase in demand, and partly this is because this time of year is necessarily the most difficult for people. We also received a £2,000 grant specifically to cover the Christmas period.

Currently, we are the only source of emergency food parcel support that operates 7 days a week. We are trying not to overstretch ourselves, but, equally, we are receiving a lot of urgent referrals from GPs, social workers and Oxford City Council. 

We will revise our budget again in February. We now think we will need to fund at least one full-time coordinator, and we will also need to either purchase or lease a refrigerated van. At the same time we will need to ensure that our operation is sustainable.

Clearly, there needs to be a wider conversation across Oxford about how much it is reasonable to expect volunteer groups to do.

Happy New Year

We wish you a very merry new year, and let’s hope it is a kinder one than 2020. Thank you again for all your support.