Charity helps vulnerable Wednesbury families with Christmas food boxes
Huge Christmas food parcels are being handed out to vulnerable families this festive season – filled with chocolates, sweets and presents for children.
Charity Wednesbury 2000 is handing out the parcels this week – with volunteers putting together 70 boxes filled with goodies so far.
The project is being led by Kallianne Titley, who runs Kickstarts Dance in the town, as well as Josh Pritchett and Adam Stevens, who run nearby Splinter Studios.
Kallianne, age 22, said all three of them work in the same building – The Old Post Office – which has where the charity has operated for many years. But when two members retired, they stepped up to help.
She said: "We really wanted to keep the charity going but were stuck on what to do. We heard about children not having school meals in the holidays so we thought we could help.
"We put it out there, asking businesses and partners in Wednesbury if they wanted to donate and the response we had was ridiculous. So many businesses came forward, I can't name them all.
"We've made about 70 boxes so far, and the boxes are so heavy we can't even lift them up. They have inside pasta, cereal, toiletries and things like that – but also selection boxes and sweets, and we've made sure each child has seven presents each.
"I connected with the public health officer for Wednesbury and Sandwell. She spoke to her partners as she has good connections with local schools. She told them we were doing this appeal, and if anyone needed support to come to us. So the schools came to us to nominate families in need."
