Glasgow
South ecclesia took part in the recent Tokens of Love project run by COG. We
were very grateful to have our application accepted.
Once we received the vouchers, as requested
I contacted COG to get them activated. We as an ecclesia already have collections
for a food bank which is close to where I live. The food bank is called Loaves
and Fishes. They are based in East Kilbride and serve around 100 families a
week. Everyone working for Loaves and Fishes volunteers their own time.
Alongside food, they also provide basic necessities such as toiletries,
cleaning supplies, baby needs and period products.
I contacted them to see if they wanted the
vouchers as they were or if they would find it more useful to have us purchase
items and drop them off. The volunteer I spoke to was delighted to hear that we
were looking to donate, and provided me with a list of things to buy. I
dutifully made my way to the nearest Tesco. My mental maths is not the most
accurate and so I was pleased to see I could use a handheld scanner to tot up
the totals as I added things to the trolley.
I had been requested to purchase pasta n
sauce packets, mug shots, weetabix, tinned meat, and toilet roll. Tesco
appeared to have an offer on both toilet roll and weetabix in big bulk order
packets, so I took full advantage of that. I got a fright when I got my
overflowing trolley to the checkout. I chose gift card as the payment option
and scanned card. A warning came up telling me the balance on the card was
£0.00. I frantically scanned another card, only for the same message to pop up!
So I called for assistance and friendly staff member came over to see me.
Meanwhile I was thinking to myself, I know that I had confirmation they were
activated, what have I done wrong! The staff member was quick to point out that
my running total of the shop had been reduced by £40 already. And so I was
reassured that the gift cards were working fine.
The next week I waited until my husband was
off so I had some help transferring the boot load into the warehouse. As we
handed the stuff over, the volunteers were crowing with delight as they
explained that a lot of the stuff we had brought the shelves were completely
bare of. In fact as we arrived, they had just sent a volunteer off to fill
their boot with toilet rolls. What a state of affairs that the food bank are
struggling to fill packages to help people. Loaves and Fishes have a lot of
local support, and we are so pleased to be able to add to this.
Many thanks to COG for providing the means
to contribute to our community
