Wakefield Trinity deliver over 1400 meals through the Big Feed

The Big Feed helped to deliver over 1400 meals during the festive period.

Over 120 volunteers dedicated their free time over Christmas to deliver the meals to front doors, helping to smash the 1,000-meal target that had been set.

Trinity’s main number was turned into a hotline for the event, with volunteers answering calls and passing on details to those in need of help.

Catering company LD Nutrition, based in both Castleford and Pontefract, offered their man-hours to produce and supply freshly-cooked and healthy meals ready to be delivered.

The foundation also offered toys and selection boxes to the children of the families they served.

Head of Foundation, Craig Shepherd, hopes that the donations will have helped families who may have fallen upon hard times due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I don’t think the event has done much in terms of preventing poverty, what we have tried to do is plug a gap and there is a lot more work still to be done,” Shepherd said.

“Some of the families that we helped support may be temporarily out of work due to factors associated with Covid-19.

“However, this is what life is like for some families year-round, not just at Christmas, and there is a lot of organisations that support them.”

Shepherd hopes the event will gather more momentum next year, insisting that “the sky is the limit.”

“What we have done and achieved throughout The Big Feed and 2020 will stand us in good stead as we enter 2021, mainly because we have shown what type of demand there is,” added Shepherd.

“The numbers have grown as the project has gone on and on the second to last day, we tipped 260 meals - the most in one day - leaving just 90 for our final few hours.

“Overall, it has shown us that what we have done over the eight days has been appreciated because if we hadn’t been here, that is 1400 meals not entering the homes of our community.

“So, next year, the sky is the limit.”

A Community Foundation statement added: “Off the back of what has been a bleak year in many books, the foundation’s Big Feed event has shown some positives amongst many negatives.”