Salisbury volunteers give up Christmas Day to help others
Festive dinners are being delivered to the isolated and vulnerable
Last updated 24th Dec 2020
A campaign to provide a Christmas meal to Salisbury people was launched earlier this year, by a team of people who wanted to help those in need during an unprecedented and challenging year.
Organiser Thom Belk says they're helping all sorts of people:
"(We can help) if you yourself are going to be isolated, or if you're struggling to afford Christmas dinner this year, if you're not going to be able to see family now, or if you know of a friend, family member or anyone in the community that's going to be isolated.
"It's not just about us putting Christmas dinner on the table, it's about one of our friendly volunteers spending a bit of time with them, a bit of human interaction, which hopefully will make the prospect of spending the day alone a little bit more bearable."
The Salisbury Christmas has aimed to help 200 people across the city tomorrow (Friday 25th December).
Thom says requests for support have risen in recent days, following the Government's announcement that the 'Christmas bubbles' were being reduced to just one day, along with changes in the tiered restrictions for many areas.
A crowdfunding campaign was also set up to raise enough money to buy supplies for all the festive meals.
That aimed to raise £1.500 but ended up collecting over £2,500.
Volunteers are prepping the Christmas feast with all the trimmings before getting out to deliver the to doorsteps, with social distancing.
Thom Belk has told Greatest Hits Radio that the response from those wanting to help out has been amazing:
"Some of these people that are helping out this year, they're just as much in need as the people that they're serving the dinners too. Just because they might be isolated or they might not be struggling to put food on the table, they need something from the day as well."
There's still time to benefit from the food parcels, or to support the cause, on the Salisbury Christmas Dinner website.