16/12/2020 – Preparing our boxes to fill with our food hamper items.
Himaya Haven received funding in 2020 from Heart of England’s Festive Fund. This funding was secured to provide food hampers for the families they support and some individuals from the community, who were in need of some extra help during the winter. Covid-19 had a considerable financial impact on these families as well as increasing the isolation faced by families of prisoners. The year 2020 had taken everyone away from their families and stopped the visiting of loved ones. Yet, what made it more difficult for prisoner families was the knowledge that as restrictions were somewhat easing, they could not call their loved one(s) 24/7 as and when they pleased, they could not see/visit them in their gardens or in a public place (eg parks), and not all prisons were offering a videocall service either. Where visits were in place families could not hug or touch their loved ones, even though a negative Covid test would have been provided. This situation added to their feelings of distress.
Most of the families supported by Himaya Haven are single parent families with children who face incredible barriers, struggling to make ends meet. With Christmas coming up it was expressed a lot of the families were feeling disheartened this time around, as well as not being able to spend a Christmas visit with their loved ones, which is generally the closest feeling they can get to spending Christmas day with them. Therefore, Himaya Haven felt it was essential to bring a sense of community, happiness and Christmas spirit, during a very difficult period. Since HH had started, they have always made an effort to donate some toys to prisons (for children of prisoners) and with prisons being closed due to Covid-19; they wanted to continue to help the families.
On the 15th December 2020, Razia and Somia visited Edgbaston Cricket Ground to collect several toys to add into their Christmas hampers, that were donated by Hall Green Communities. They also received many flat packed boxes, which were taken to the office with the idea of recycling them to use as the hamper boxes, rather than purchasing new ones.
On the 16th December 2020 the boxes were being taped back together by Zobia and prepared for the hampers. A donation of Cadbury’s chocolate selection was also given to us to add into the hampers.
During this project another donation was received by Highfield Hall Community Centre on the 21st December 2020.
The Himaya Haven team had volunteered their time on the 22nd December to purchase all items, organise the items for each family and pack them accordingly. Items purchased were, a bag each of potatoes, carrots, onions, parsnips, brussel sprouts, swede and Yorkshire puddings alongside, sage and onion stuffing mix, gravy, cheese and cracker selection, mint sauce, fresh meat (1 full chicken and 1 kilo of mutton), chocolate lollies, mince pies, chocolate logs, a box of teabags and sugar and two bottles of fizzy drink.
All boxes were individually wrapped with wrapping paper by Zobia and volunteer Nasrin.
When Christmas Eve arrived, the staff and volunteers had arrived in the morning and paired up to deliver the Christmas hampers. Each pair had a designated list of families which were organised by areas, so that no one was crossing over the same boundaries, making an efficient delivery process. This was all organised by Zobia.
This project would not have been successful if it wasn’t for the volunteers and staff who dedicated their day from the morning up until the evening (7pm) to help ensure families received their deliveries. This included persevering through the pouring rain, on an already cold winters day. A total of 30 hampers were given to the clients of Himaya Haven and 5 were given to members of the community who were identified as needing extra support.
To encourage spirits even more, the team had held a mini competition via a WhatsApp group of all the clients who received a food hamper, to see who could make the ‘best’ dinner. This had brought a sense of fun and excitement for the women and was something they were then looking forward to.
