12.12.2021
#Watch – Finding Joy in Advent – The Storehouse Crinken reaching out to those in need
Watch the third video here.
In this week’s video we are ‘Finding Joy in Advent’ during a visit to the Storehouse foodbank at St James’s Church in Crinken.
The Storehouse was born some years ago when the Rector, the Revd Trevor Stevenson, read a newspaper article. The headline stated that 27% of children go to bed hungry and he felt his church had to do something to help.
Now the Storehouse, run by a team of volunteers from the parish, provides food and essentials to up to 100 people every week. The food is distributed to families in the Bray and Shankill areas by local agencies who come and collect it every Thursday.
The Storehouse is linked in with the EU FEAD programme which is now changing its name to SMD – Support for the Most Deprived. They also receive donations from a number of parishes whose generosity increases both the amount of food they can give out but also its variety.
The Storehouse has managed to keep going throughout these Covid times meaning that the agencies that they work with have a meaningful point of contact with their clients. In the summer the Storehouse moved from the small garage in which it had been based to the purpose built facility constructed under the careful oversight of project manager Robert Thompson.
Trevor Stevenson and Alan and Nicky Ralph talk about the background to the Storehouse and how it operates while representatives of two agencies supported by the Storehouse tell what it means to them.