Cornish Christmas Giving Catalogue

Cornish Food Banks continue to provide food parcels to those families and individuals that have low incomes and cannot afford basic groceries.

Our food banks also provide food for children during the school holidays and also provide baby food and baby provisions, washing products, fuel vouchers and pet food.

At Christmas, most food banks also provide presents for the children of families suffering from food poverty.

Due to the continued cost of living crisis, demand for food parcels doubled in the past six months, with fears that demand will continue to increase. Donations, in all of our towns and villages, are essential to help those most in need of help.

To make a donation to a food bank, please enter its location on the Order Form, along with the amount you wish to donate.

Our Cornish Food Banks:

• Bude
• Callington
• Camborne, Pool & Redruth
• Hayle
• Helston
• Launceston
• Liskeard & Looe
• Newquay
• Penryn & Falmouth
• St Austell
• St Ives
• Saltash
• Truro
• Wadebridge
• Penzance

Truro Homeless Action Group (THAG) provides a warm welcome, food and shelter and a regular and safe place for the homeless and vulnerably housed to meet. Around 30 volunteers regularly give two hours a week to provide free cooked breakfasts, seven days a week, 365 days a year. On Christmas Day a turkey lunch is served and a late brunch on Boxing Day.

As well as food, THAG also provides toiletries, flasks, razors, thermals in winter, along with socks, gloves, hats, scarves, and underwear. THAG was first formed over 25 years ago after the night shelter in St George’s Road was closed.

THAG is based at the Church Hall of St John the Evangelist in Strangways Terrace, Truro.

THAG is always happy to welcome new volunteers. Email thag@trurotogether.co.uk

St Petrocs acts as the last line of defence against someone having to sleep outside.

Where people find themselves pushed into homelessness, we act quickly to use our outreach and resettlement services to secure appropriate accommodation. Our residential services offer accommodation with support to provide a foundation for individuals to build on, towards independent living. We work with the relevant agencies to ensure permanent housing solutions are found and adequate support is provided.

We will ensure that people get access to the support which is their basic human right.

Backpack Beds provide shelter that can help improve the lives of people who face the prospect of rough sleeping on the streets of Cornwall.

Backpack Beds are a project of the Cornwall Independent Poverty Forum which has distributed 200 backpack beds in conjunction with key partners who provide support for the homeless in the county.

Backpack Beds are durable, waterproof and cost effective and immediately improves the dignity, health, sleep, warmth, comfort and safety of people sleeping on our streets.

Backpack Beds are not the permanent solution to preventing or relieving homelessness: but Backpack Beds do offer a simple short-term solution to help vulnerable people take the first steps away from rough sleeping.

Penzance Breakfast Project’s aim is to provide a cooked breakfast in a warm, dry and safe place, five days a week for people who are homeless in the Penzance area.

Its base in the Breadline Centre, a resource centre for the St Petroc’s organisation, means that there is access to advice and support from St Petroc’s staff.

The success of the project lies with the small team of dedicated volunteers who provide this service alongside the manager and co-ordinator.

Cornwall Refuge Trust provides a safe supportive environment for men, women and children who have escaped domestic abuse. They offer support and advice, empowering survivors of domestic abuse for a safer and happier future.

The charity was founded in 1979 by women from local churches who sought to provide a temporary place of safety for women and children fleeing domestic abuse.

The trust has developed over the years and now provides refuge accommodation for up to six women and their children and also supports male victims of domestic abuse, providing refuge accommodation for up to five men and their children. Cornwall Refuge Trust also provides a 24-hour domestic abuse helpline (01872 225629) and a domestic abuse counselling service (the Waves Project).

The individuals and families who come into refuge are likely to have fled their home with short notice and therefore often arrive with little more than they are wearing.

The Cornwall Community Foundation (CCF) aims to improve the lives of others in Cornwall, those who are isolated, disadvantaged and vulnerable.

As a foundation, we have the expertise and local knowledge to help donors support the local causes and charities they care about, enabling them to make an impact through their giving.

We identify issues of importance for our donors and facilitate investment to grassroots, front line, volunteer led organisations on their behalf, making a real difference to people’s lives across Cornwall.

The CFF’s Crisis Fund makes small awards, usually £30 but up to a maximum of £90, to the most vulnerable individuals within Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, who are suffering immediate hardship. This includes helping individuals who are currently homeless or in danger of becoming homeless with immediate needs such as short term accommodation, transport, clothing and food.

No One Goes Hungry – Probus and Surrounding Area supports people in the mostly rural area between Truro and St Austell.

We operate a community larder four times a week where anyone can drop in to access free food – a mixture of store cupboard essentials, fresh fruit and veg, supermarket surplus and baby supplies. We are also supported with fresh food from a number of local businesses who donate food to the project.

At Christmas we provide hampers containing everything for a fresh Christmas Dinner for those who request one or are nominated to receive one.

We are currently supporting around 150-200 people per week and since the cost of living crisis has hit out numbers are increasing week on week.

We work with a local catering company to provide high quality nutritious meals for children during the school holidays.

Truro Nourish Hub (TNH), based at Truro Cathedral, is a new initiative set up to support our local community by enabling people to cook healthy, sustainable and low cost meals.

It aims to create a facility that is accessible to anyone and offer a food provision which not only shares hot healthy meals but provides a safe place for people to meet and engage with their community. It is also a great opportunity for people to connect with each other and for the TNH to signpost them to other organisations that could assist them if required.

Falmouth and Penryn Welcome Refugee Families was established to deliver the Government’s Community Sponsorship scheme which aims to resettle refugee families displaced by the Syrian war.

We provide support and resources to enable refugee families to resettle in the Falmouth and Penryn area, including but not limited to language teaching, befriending and social support. It costs a minimum of £10,000 to help resettle a family.

The Fishermen’s Mission maintains a Christian presence in the UK’s fishing communities, in order to provide, regardless of race or creed, practical, welfare and spiritual support to active and retired fishermen and their families.

Citizens Advice Cornwall offers free, independent and confidential advice.

Demand for our services has increased by 147% and we are working with more people in employment but struggling to cope with the cost of living. Your donation can be a lifeline to a family in crisis this Christmas.

In today’s increasingly stressful and hectic world, more and more people are looking to Samaritans as a means of helping them cope with day-to-day issues, crises and disasters.

Run entirely by volunteers and funded from donations and fund raising, Samaritans of Cornwall at Truro is the only branch of this organisation based solely in the Duchy. Last year, volunteers in the branch responded to 52,000 calls for help. We are available via phone, email, text, SMS and face-to-face.

Whatever the caller wants to discuss, Samaritans offer a confidential, nonjudgmental space to explore what is going on. It costs £50,000 a year to run the Truro branch. We rely entirely on donations to maintain our services.

Hidden Help is a charity which supports those most in need in Cornwall to create a home by recycling, upcycling and redistributing furniture and household items from the local community.

We help those seeking refuge from domestic violence, the poorest, the homeless and long term unemployed, those with chronic illness and disabilities, ex-offenders and armed forces veterans, and asylum seekers, referred to us by social services and other bodies, and fit out their empty space, including carpets on concrete floors, to give them some dignity and to help create a home.

We also support our volunteers and clients to reintegrate into society and employment through volunteering and work experience with the charity.

All Saints Community Centre, Tuckingmill provides grass root support for all vulnerable people within the community, including crisis support, counselling, mental health first aid and suicide prevention support, advocacy and a community larder.

The centre endeavours to provide recreational, social, cultural, educational and training opportunities, promote social justice and social inclusion to make the community stronger and a happier and healthier and safer place to live. We work with at risk individuals, whether from abuse, being street homeless, or at risk of self harm. We are running many new projects, groups, activities and services in response to increased need and have recently employed counsellor and sessional workers.

Food Troops provides food education and surplus food parcels for families in and around Redruth.

Our educational food-focused workshops encourage healthy eating within the family, increasing a range of fruit and veg in our diets and bring the community together through good food and sharing of skills and experiences.

We operate from our community kitchen and garden in Redruth where we distribute surplus food otherwise destined for landfill and grow our own range of organic fruit and vegetables to be used in our workshops and cooked up into nutritious meals for people in need.

Home-Start Kernow offers free, confidential support, friendship and practical help to parents of children under five in Cornwall who are going through a difficult time.

Being a parent, whatever your situation, can be very difficult, especially when children are young. Many parents feel exhausted and overwhelmed by the stresses of family life, particularly if they have little support from family and friends when they need it most.

For some parents it’s a particular struggle because they are also having to cope with issues such as post-natal depression, their or their child’s illness or disability, isolation or multiple births.

That’s when parents need support. That’s when Home-Start Kernow can help. Support is offered through homevisiting and groups via a network of trained volunteers, all under the supervision of a small staff team.

Go Beyond is the charity giving children and young people facing serious challenges in their lives the chance for a break that lasts a lifetime.

Go Beyond’s expert staff and committed volunteers give children and young people who have been bereaved, abused or bullied, who are living in poverty or caring for loved ones the chance to escape their worries and pressures. To have the moments and experiences they need to believe in themselves and think beyond the day-to-day for a bigger, brighter future. Every break is totally free-of charge for the children and young people.

Baby Basics Cornwall, set up by the Tribute Cluster (Menheniot, St Cleer, Pensilva, and Quethiock churches), provides vulnerable families with the essentials for children up to five years across Cornwall.

We also provide family toiletry packs (including shower gel, period products, toothbrush and paste, and toddler and baby items) to families.

Many of our items are preloved donations, but we need to buy brand new mattresses for cots and moses baskets, and brand new bottles.

In this unprecedented economic crisis, Penlee Cluster of Churches continues its commitment to families in the area by providing free meals and play sessions each week day evening.

In an area with some of the highest deprivation figures in Cornwall, we offer a safe, much valued indoor play space as well as a place where parents, grandparents and carers can meet and be supported.

We are also offering local teenagers experiences of leadership to encourage self-confidence and raise aspirations: ways to help their employability. Help us to support and encourage our families and build resilience in a warm caring space each week day evening, as well as Saturday and Sunday sessions.

Boundless Trust runs weekly youth clubs and holiday activities from our dedicated youth centre in Looe.

We aim to provide a safe space where young people can get support, have fun and learn new skills. The young people are given opportunity to experience a range of activities promoting fitness and wellbeing. During the holidays children and young people are provided with a delicious nutritious meal where many who are reliant on Free School Meals during term time would otherwise miss out.

We are also working with other community partners to provide a skatepark in Looe. We are grateful for your support and help in providing this vital service in Looe.