Nourish Community Foodbank, Where Every Tin is a Hug

L-R Lesley Darcy, Assistant Operations Manager. Dawn Stanford, Operations Manager
and Marianne MacDonald, Trustee

I've just spent the last few hours in a Big Yellow Self Storage unit and do you know what? I had the best time, I haven't laughed like I did in ages. This is no average storage unit, let me tell you. This is the home of the Nourish Community Foodbank where I've spent the morning in the company of three super passionate women who are each making a difference in their community.

'Every tin is a hug' is the wisdom imparted in me today from Marianne MacDonald, Trustee of the Nourish Community Foodbank. She told me this is how she explains her voluntary work to her daughter and she went on to say 'Nourish is so much more than just food, it is a helping hand, a squeeze, a hug and a feeling there are complete strangers who care'. Marianne talked with passion about how making donations to a food bank such as Nourish is conscious giving, people have made a choice to add extra shopping to their basket or to open their cupboard and see what they can donate, it is so much more involved than just putting loose change in a tin.

She is of course right and I see this first-hand as I also volunteer in my local foodbank in Hastings. Nourish is like no other food bank I've ever seen though, they operate from the Big Yellow Self Storage building and are gifted a 200 sq ft unit by them and have been for the last few years. Their team of volunteers meet there each week to weigh, sort and pack the food and the food parcels are then delivered straight to the door of the person in need, removing any obstacles such as transport or ill health from stopping them getting their much needed food, toiletries and personal items.

Meet Joyce, one inspirational lady who is creating #lastingchange #IWD2014

Late last night I received this digital postcard from Penny, Annie and Tanya, AKA the Team Honk bloggers.

They are currently out in Tanzania with Sports Relief meeting women and visiting projects that have received funding from Sports Relief in the last few years. The aim of the trip is to show them how the money that we (Jo average in the UK) give is making a difference in the worlds poorest countries (as well here in the UK, there are lots of home projects too) and creating #lastingchange.

I know that many people are sceptical and they believe that money given abroad goes down the drain but from what I observed when I was in Ethiopia, this is not the case when the money goes to a country with a stable government and one interested in equipping and empowering its people. I believe Tanzania is similar to Ethiopia in it's desire to change history and to break the pattern of poverty.

As today is International Women's Day I am so pleased to feature Joyce here on my blog. There are so many women in Africa who are entrepreneurial and are creating sustainable and effective businesses.and we need to celebrate them. These women did not have the best starts in life but they have chosen to work hard and to believe they can make a difference. What a great example they set to the younger generation.

So what is Joyce's story?

Through mentoring and training funded by Sport Relief and provided by the Gatsby Trust Joyce expanded her poultry business from just a few chicks to now having 300. She has also recently built an extension to house another 400 which should be arriving next week. The training that Joyce has received has enabled her to make her own feed, thereby saving her money, and also to ensure the feed is healthy.

She has also been educated to recognise the signs of disease in her chicks to such an extent that she now has a completely healthy clutch. Other poultry keepers in her area phone Joyce for advice and training as she has established herself as a successful poultry keeper. She is also part of a network of women and this means she is in a much more powerful position to broker deals to sell to supermarkets as they can promise supply, this Joyce couldn't do on her own.

Joyce is proud to be able to support her family and pay for her son to attend a boarding school, therefore breaking the cycle of poverty and poor education and giving him the best chance for a successful future for himself.

Take another look at that photo and see the joy in Joyce's face. She is working hard and it is probably not the most attractive job in the world but with it comes respect, change and a feeling of worth.

Joyce, you are an inspiration to us, thank you.

Do you want to join in and help Team Honk raise awareness and funds for Sports relief and the projects it helps?

• Please RT, share and support any updates you see with the #lastingchange hashtag. 
• DONATE You can help create #lastingchange by sponsoring #teamhonkrelay for Sport Relief 
• GET INVOLVED Join up for your local Sport Relief event here.

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Vaccinations make me cheerful! #GoodWork #R2BC

It is Thursday and that means just one thing for this blog - Reasons to be Cheerful! As we are in full swing with New Bloggers Fortnight normally I would be sharing all things bloggy that make me happy but today is a little different. It is still blogging linked but it is also bigger than that, far bigger!

Earlier this week my friends Penny, Tanya and Annie travelled to Ghana to see first hand how some of the money that Comic Relief has raised over the last 25 years has been spent and they are reporting back on all that they saw and heard there (their names are linked to their blogs, you can read loads about this great trip on those). 

Do you know what they saw in Ghana? #GoodWork that is what.  I know firsthand how that will have made their hearts leap; to see all that change and the powerful effect that funding can have to make a difference to everyday life is awe-inspiring. I'll never forget the people I met in Ethiopia and I'm sure they will never forget those they had the privilege to spend time with in Ghana.

My trip to Ethiopia in October last year was titled Living Proof and it was very much in the same vein as this #GoodWork campaign. Annie, Penny, Tanya and I all went and saw what a positive effect foreign funding has on everyday life for those living in poverty, one of the great things that this money does is help to pay for vaccination programs. The one that Tanya, Penny and Annie went to is funded by GAVI and will ensure that children live to become adults. That seems a really simple and obvious statement doesn't it? But nothing can be taken for granted when growing up in a developing country. A rotavirus vaccination makes the world of difference - it is literally life and death stuff!

Here in the UK parents make a choice to immunise their child or not but it is not a choice for those living in many parts of Africa. Diarrhoea kills in Africa as does TB, Tetanus and many other illnesses that these vaccinations can prevent. Take a look at the picture below and see how glad the mothers are to come together and have their children immunised. I'm not sure what the leaflets are that they are holding but my guess would be they are literature provided by GAVI to explain about the injections.



In Ethiopia once a child is fully immunised their family receive a certificate to confirm this fact. That certificate is then proudly displayed on the wall, in the same way your parent might mount your degree award. Children are only allowed to start school when they can prove they have been immunised, because they have to ensure they have the herd effect and the children will be safe from infection by others.

I watched Jonathan Ross on This Morning the other day broadcasting live from this very centre and he got it right when he said that no child likes having a jab but better five minutes of discomfort now, than real devastation later.  Hits it home doesn't it?

So this week my reasons to be cheerful are -

• Bloggers making a difference
• Comic Relief providing aid to developing countries for 25 years
• Vaccinations saving lives

This is a digital postcard sent from #TeamHonk (www.mammasaurus.co.uk; www.aresidence.co.uk; www.mummybarrow.com) during their travels with Comic Relief in Ghana celebrating #goodwork.

For the past 25 years the money raised through Red Nose Day has been changing the lives of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in the UK and Africa. Let’s Keep Up the Good Work. Find out how at rednoseday.com.

For other digital postcards please do check out the linky on www.teamhonk.org

Time for you to join in now - your Reasons to be Cheerful (or #R2BC) can be anything you fancy.  Write a post and link up and hop round a visit a few great people who are joining in. Thanks to all those who joined in last week, sorry I did not get to visit you, my Nan has been very ill and sadly passed away on Monday night. Rest in Peace Nanny Mary.

Wishing you a great week, we are back to New Bloggers Fortnight tomorrow with a super post from Emma at Crazy with Twins on keeping your integrity when publishing sponsored content.