Sussexsport will be holding a food and clothing charity collection for Brighton and Hove's food banks, and for The Red Box Project.
Why these charities?
The use of food banks in Sussex has increased by 40% since 2013 and they continue to provide vital support to the homeless or those who are in need.
This is particularly troubling at Christmas when the gap between the haves and the have-nots seems extreme, the weather gets crueller, and those without the support of family may begin to struggle.
Through your kind donations we can help make the festive period a little easier to bear for these people, and a little warmer too. The collection will be held at the Sport Centre reception for a week from Monday 10 December - Friday 14 December.
All of the food and clothing collected will be donated to the following charities, who, taken together, give to around 200 families per week:
- The Salvation Army
- Purple People Kitchen
- Hangleton Food Bank
- Brighton Voices in Exile
- Roundabout
- The Red Box Project
The last charity on this list, The Red Box Project, is a relatively new initiative, launched in March 2017, to provide sanitary products to school-aged girls in the UK.
20% of families struggle to afford sanitary products and at least 7% of girls miss school because they are too embarrassed to attend without adequate sanitary provision. This can lead to regular truancy and thus academic underachievement and poor social skills.
The Red Box Project works by providing free sanitary products to schools so that girls can still access them in a confidential and safe way. This initiative helps girls at 15 schools in Brighton and Hove, and they are in need of sanitary product donations to provide support to a further four schools, in some of the most deprived areas of the city, which have asked for help.
Suggested items include:
- Biscuits/snack bars
- Cereal
- Coffee
- Deodorant
- Dried fruit
- Jams
- Lentils
- Long-life fruit juice cartons
- Long-life UHT milk
- Mince pies
- Noodles
- Oil (for cooking)
- Pasta
- Peanut butter
- Toiletries –razors, shampoo, shower gel, toilet rolls, toothbrushes, toothpaste
- Rice
- Sanitary products – towels/pads and tampons
- Spices
- Supermarket vouchers
- Tinned food
- Winter hats, gloves, scarves and socks
- Washing powder (non-bio)
- Washing up liquid
Please give generously.
