Thank you from Feed the Children - by Diana Evans
Amazed, overwhelmed and overloaded must surely sum up my feelings and the state of my car after the
wonderful response to the Harvest Appeal for Feed the Children. Many people have asked me what happens
to the goods collected so I have attempted a potted account here below.
Sunday 2nd October - Our cars left St Mary's crowded with the generous gifts not just from St Mary's
members but also Dunston Park Church and the 7th Thatcham Guides. Sunday afternoon was spent sorting the goods
to make packing at Feed the Children (FTC) easier and also to try and ensure they would all fit in my car!
What goods? 30kg of rice, 27 kg of pasta, 12kg of flour, 10kg sugar, 59 tins of assorted fish, as well as
numerous tins of fruit and vegetables, dried pulses, tea , coffee etc. PLUS 85 bars of soap, toothbrushes,
toothpaste and other toiletries, numerous pens, pencils and other stationery items to enable children in some of
the poorest countries in the world to go to school.
Monday 3rd October - With the seats folded down, parcel shelf removed and every bit of available space
packed with goods I set off for FTC's warehouse in Twyford. My "passenger" strapped in with a seat
belt was a huge bag full of the latest batch of hand knitted goods, produced by the many ladies (I'm not aware
of any gents who knit but please correct me if there are) of our congregation who knit prolifically throughout
the year. My car did not complain but I don't think it has ever carried so much stuff.
Unpacking at FTC was far easier than fitting it in, but volunteers there did wonder whether my Skoda was
really a tardis, as I kept producing more from under seats etc. The goods are then sorted by type and checked
they have sufficient best before date as the journey to some parts of Africa can take 6 weeks.
How are the goods packed for transport?
FTC has special flat pack heavy-duty cardboard boxes to withstand the rigours of the journey and onward
distribution to their projects. However each box needs assembling, labelling and sealing underneath and on
the bottom edge, so for the reminder of that week I bore the scars of operating the tape machine!
Packing is like a Crypton Factor Challenge; I did not realise quite how many brands, size and
varieties of pasta were available until trying to fit an assortment of 2kg, 1kg, 750g, 500g packets of
pasta shells, tubes, wheels, spaghetti, tagliatelle, macaroni etc into a box without leaving any gaps.
At a cost of over £3,500 to send a container of aid to Liberia it is essential no space is wasted. The
full box then needed sealing with the vicious tape machine before putting on a pallet in such a way as
to maintain the security of the load and to ensure at least one side had a label visible to aid efficient
distribution at its final destination. My experience packing boxes of rice, flour, sugar, teabags and dried
pulses provided similar mental challenges and developed my spatial reasoning skills.
The many plastic carrier bags in which goods are sent to FTC are not wasted - they are used to wrap
around jars of coffee to give them further protection.
Tins are sorted and packed accordingly into boxes for fish, vegetables or fruit. Before sealing a box
volunteers try to put in one or two tin openers if available.
What about non-food items?
These are all packed in similar boxes to ensure usage of space
in shipping containers is maximised. Excess packaging such as the boxes around tubes of toothpaste are removed.
Education Aid is often assembled into student packs which each contain exercise books, pens, pencils,
coloured pencils or similar, a rubber, ruler and pencil sharpener.
Mother and baby boxes are assembled with essential items for a new baby such as blankets or a shawl,
nappies and nappy pins, baby shampoo, soap, a flannel, a towel, Vaseline or similar and maybe a small soft toy
as well as hand knitted baby clothes.
Knitting needles, materials and sewing equipment as well as hand sewing machines are sent to projects which
are helping women become self sufficient through making their own clothes or ultimately earning a living through
sewing without having to work in a sweat shop.
Nothing of use is wasted, short dated food or unsuitable items i.e. milk and meat product which they
cannot send, are used for projects in the Reading area or for the Breakfast Clubs FTC support in some of the very
deprived areas in Bristol.
What next?
I will be going over to FTC 2- 3 times a month for the foreseeable future so please keep the knitting
and other goodies flowing. The notice board in the meeting room has a few leaflets outlining FTC's work. There
are also copies of a knitting pattern for any would be knitters, as you will be able to see from the photos the
jumpers can be any colour and stripy ones using up all your odds and ends of wool are very welcome. Any pattern
can be used for jumpers, gloves, hats and blanket squares or blankets.
Finally a big thank you to those who contributed financially - £57.66 was raised towards the cost of
transporting the goods. This type of fundraising is essential to continue Feed the Children's work.
Diana Evans
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