St. Michael's Prep School has donated 318 kilos of food and toiletries to the Sevenoaks food bank known as The Community Cupboard.

Money was collected from staff and parents at the school in Otford Court, Otford, during December and the school's Parents and Friends Association used the £965 raised to buy provisions for the charity, which filled three cars.

Friends co-chairman Kelly Downey said: “Delivering our donation to The Community Cupboard was an amazing and uplifting moment.

"Being able to bring the school together to contribute to a cause which plays such an important role in our community during this time was very rewarding.

"This is a very difficult time for everyone, especially those who can’t afford to put food on the table for their families. We hope that our donation can be a small step in making a difference for those people.”

Since the start of January alone, an additional 22 local families have registered for The Community Cupboard’s support, reflecting the increased pressures caused by the ongoing pandemic across the country.

Dave Carter, a trustee at The Community Cupboard, said: “We would like to express our extreme gratitude to St Michael’s for their wonderful donation. We are very lucky to receive regular donations from local groups, but they are rarely to this scale."

He said: “The food and toiletries kindly given to us by St Michael’s have allowed us to fully restock our shelves as well as putting plenty of stock on standby for new referrals. The size of this donation will allow us to give substantial food packages to the 22 new families who were referred to us in January."

Since its launch in January 2020, The Community Cupboard has continued to help families in Sevenoaks, and has extended its help to cover a 20-mile radius including Edenbridge, Westerham, Surrey, Sidcup, Rochester and Ashford, due to the pandemic.

Mr Carter said: “We began as a small group of people determined to make a difference locally in an area where food banks were lacking. Little did we know, a global pandemic was on its way and our efforts would be needed tenfold. To say we hit the ground running would be an understatement.”

The charity is run by four members and six volunteers, and in January alone distributed 3.1 tonnes of food, toiletries and essential items.

Mr Carter said: “We began the charity on the foundation that ‘if we can help, we will’, and with the community’s help, I’m proud to say we are doing just that."

The Community Cupboard is currently taking donations of tinned and long-life food products, toiletries and essential items. Monetary donations are also welcome.

The charity is based at The Garage, Gamcock Meadow, West Kingdown where a Covid-secure donation drop off process has been put in place.

For more information, click here.

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