March 2023 Volunteer at recipient organisation
‘I could write a book on all the different reasons that people turn up for help but this just scratches the surface. Without the gleaner’s help we couldn’t possibly do this. Their support is vital to us.
1 A young lady turned up on our doorstep at 10pm. She had been sent home in a taxi from hospital where she had been for three weeks with pneumonia. She had no food or milk in the house even to make a cup of tea. She walked to our house remembering the food shed. We lock it at night because sadly vandals have thrown food from it all over the road. We were able to give her several readymade meals from our freezer, as she had a microwave. She was clearly too ill to go shopping or to prepare food. All the veg in those meals came from the gleaners.
2 A bus driver whose route passes by our house and shed stopped his bus when he saw us filling the shed and asked if we could help him with some food. (He had no passengers on the bus at the time) He was very distressed and apologised over and over again in floods of emotion. He explained that he had a good job, but his wife had left him and taken the children. She had mental problems so he had to fight in court to get custody of the children. He had won the case and the children were coming to him in two days. The problem was that he had no food to feed them and solicitor’s fees had taken all his money. We loaded him up with lots of dinners from the freezer, fresh veg from the gleaners as well as bread and tins of food.
3 I go to Bookers to buy meat. One day there was lots of meat dropped to one third of the normal price so I bought it all. I had a trolley full of meat for under £30.00.
When I got to the till the cashier put all the items through the till and was amazed that how cheap the bill was. He said with tears in his eyes, “All that food for so little!” He was clearly distressed so I asked if he was in trouble and needed food. He just fought back the tears, unable to speak and fighting to keep his composure in front of colleagues. I gave him my card and asked him to ring me. Two days later he plucked up the courage to ring. His car had blown up and he needed the car to get to work. Buses are few and far between in Cornwall and he was on warning for being late for work. I told him to get another car and we would feed his family until he paid off the loan for the car.
4 A mother of four with a self employed husband diagnosed with cancer in his salivary glands. He was operated on Christmas eve. She had very little food let alone presents for the children. We fed the family for six months while he recovered. They still get fresh veg from us, which of course comes from the gleaners.
5 We have many pensioners now coming to get fresh vegetables. But we also have several that we deliver dinners to each day. They are disabled people and very afraid of being put into a home. unable to cook for themselves as one is going blind, one who had a bad fall causing serious injury and others who are sick. Many pensioners are very afraid and lonely. They never buy meat as it is so expensive. Now we have gained their trust and they do not feel ashamed to ask for a cooked meal (including gleaners veg!). They have become friends.
6 A preacher we met at church had a great dilemma. He has seven children, two of whom had toothache. He was chatting to us saying he had to make a terrible decision. For NHS emergency treatment there is a wait of six months. He could buy private dental care for them or could feed all his children. We fed them for a year while he paid the dentist’s bill of £1250l.
7 House prices and rents have rocketed during and since the Covid pandemic. Many tenants were thrown out of rented accommodation so that landlords could sell. Many found themselves living in tents. Without an address it is hard to get food from foodbanks so they come to us for help with cooked meals. Many marriages have broken up during Covid and so many young men are living in their cars. They have no way of cooking any food. We supply proper dinners to Camborne’s main food bank. They freeze them and microwave a meal for anyone who turns up in desperate need.
8 A serviceman left the Royal Navy but his pension did not come through for six months. This left the family in dire straits. The gleaner’s fresh veg and food from us helped enormously. The “promised ” jobs fell through because of covid and it took six months for him to find work. They are fine now.
9 We cook 20 meals twice a week for those homeless people living in containers in the car park in Camborne town centre. They have a microwave but are not allowed knives or proper cooking equipment to provide food for themselves. They get pasties and sandwiches but we send proper meals, casseroles and stews containing lovely fresh veg which we get from the gleaners’.
