Church delivers huge food donation

Church delivers huge food donation

14 April 2021

THE Journey Church in Downpatrick has been working to distribute more than £42,000 worth of food supplies to various food banks across the district.

Over a seven-week period, dozens of volunteers worked to ensure that food has been delivered to organisations which get the supplies to families and individuals who need it most.

It’s the latest wave of the local effort from Newry, Mourne and Down Council with funding from the Department for Communities (DfC) to get practical help to families economically affected by the pandemic.

From March last year, local groups quickly responded to distribute food parcels to any household in need. The post-Christmas lockdown presented yet another challenge to the council and the DfC to target help where it was most needed.

The County Down Rural Community Network (CDRCN), Newry Confederation of Community groups and others were asked to set up three brand new distribution centres and allocated over £100,000 worth of food and essential hygiene and household goods to the area.

The Journey Church stepped up to assist in the Downpatrick area and week after week, dozens of their volunteers received the supplies from Lynas Foods, which they made into the various orders and dispatching them to the various groups in need. Down Community Transport helped with the bulkier loads.

The Clanrye Group were tasked with coordinating the scheme and Kilkeel Development Association looked after the Mournes area. Clanrye collated orders for food and supplies each week and Lynas foods delivered pallets of supplies to this part of the world.

Orders were placed each week by local food banks, the St Vincent de Paul Society, Home-Start, Sure Start and other organisations.

Nicholas McCrickard, manager of CDRCN, said: “On behalf of the strategic stakeholder forum, I want to thank Journey Church and all the other groups involved in this gigantic effort.

“The general public may never fully grasp the scale of the operation to keep our foodbanks and SVP stocked and able to answer the great need which has been brought on by the pandemic.

“While many of us have seen our lives as relatively unaffected, thousands of people have seen their normal weekly incomes and their day to day struggles take a turn for the worse.

“This food pallet scheme and other financial and food security systems have been a lifeline for many. I want to thank the Maria Keenan from the Clanrye Group in particular and my colleague Daniella McCarry for going well beyond their normal jobs to help people most in need.”

Daniella said: “We could not have done this without the volunteers from the Journey Church in Downpatrick. They selflessly gave up days of their own time and rallied to the warehouse to get the vital supplies out to those that needed it most.

“The foodbanks, SVP and our other partners are also to be commended for getting their orders in every week and for getting food and nappies and other products quickly out to local families.”

Thomas Leavy, from the Journey Church’s leadership team, was the person who co-ordinated the local effort.

He said that the church volunteers represented all generations distributed food to Downpatrick’s Fountain food bank, St Vincent De Paul in Strangford and Killough, Newcastle and Ballynahinch food bank.

“This is the second time we have partnered with County Down Rural Community Network,” he explained.

“In the first lockdown we delivered food parcels, this time we delivered straight to agencies so that they could get the supplies out.

“Down Community Transport assisted with the use of several of their buses to deliver supplies furthest away while we did more local deliveries.”

The church hired the former Down Sports Centre premises in order to have room to break down the thousands of pounds worth of food which came each week on pallets.