Christmas in South Brent: I’d not previously encountered the FareShare charity before. They distribute left over food from supermarkets and other retailers, acting as a hub to distribute to local people in need, a kind of more organised food back – with better stock; they had 1kg boxes of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes!! I was well jell.
I happened to be in Devon for Christmas so was on hand to help out in the village hall when the supermarket truck came in. We volunteers got the tea urn fired up, set out trestle tables, chairs, then laid out the goods. It works on a ticket system. The punters buy tokens for a nominal sum and they can exchange these tokens for groceries. Stuff that would sell for a lot is 2-3 tokens and cheaper stuff just the 1 (which included the corn flakes!). So the punters cruise round and “buy” what they want, which must make it feel more like a shopping experience than a hand-out. If there is a lot of any particular item they’re allowed to double dip.
We helpers were all supposed to dress as Santa’s elves or with Christmas jumpers at the very least, but being without, I settled for wrapping tinsel ‘round my Zorro hat. Job done! All very jolly and afterwards everyone gets free tea/coffee and biscuits and have a good old natter. Washing up afterward was pretty easy – I don’t mind doing dishes really, it’s quite meditative. Zen, don’t you know. Anyway, 3-4 hours and we were done. I had a great time and actually got browny points just for having such fun. Enlighted self interest indeed; the Buddhists would be proud of me
