Chichester's community wardens helping spread festive cheer
They are working to make this Christmas "as special as possible"
Community wardens across Chichester are helping spread some festive cheer to people this Christmas.
One of those is Drew Allardice, who is helping package up festive bundles for youth club members in East Wittering who have not been able to meet because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Drew applied for a grant from the social enterprise FareShare, which prevents good food from going to waste by redistributing it to frontline charities.
The ÂŁ2,000 grant is being spent on putting together 100 festive food parcels for young people who attend East Wittering Youth Club.
Drew said:
"The young people who attend the youth club have had a difficult year, and have not been able to meet up, and we thought this would be a nice way of spreading some cheer.
"The local Tesco have also been really supportive and their staff will also be helping to pick and pack up the bags."
The local fire crew have also offered to help distribute the bundles to young people’s homes.
Meanwhile Dawn White and Gareth Jones, community wardens for Oving and Tangmere, are working with Oving Community Watch to put together 80 treat boxes, which will be delivered to elderly people in the parish.
Normally they would have been involved in cooking a Christmas meal at Oving Jubilee Hall, but this has been cancelled because of coronavirus.
As the residents cannot meet in person this year, it was decided to put together some treat boxes to let people know that they had not been forgotten.
This year, Gareth has also been carrying out mental health welfare visits to certain residents in his patch.
He will be continuing to visit people to check that they are okay over the Christmas period.
Community warden, Sue Long, who covers the Chichester West area, nominated residents in her community for special Rotary Club vouchers to cover Christmas costs.
The scheme runs each year, and people usually receive hampers, but because of coronavirus, this year they are being given vouchers to spend instead.
Sue said:
"I usually nominate a few people that have come to my attention over the year.
"One particular lady who I nominated this year does a lot for the community and she was over the moon to receive her voucher."
Councillor Roy Briscoe, cabinet member for culture and community services at Chichester District Council added:
"This year has been extremely challenging and difficult for many people and our community wardens have been doing a wonderful job checking in on those who need extra support.
"Although our usual Christmas get togethers and celebrations will be very different this year, the wardens have been working closely with their local contacts to help make this time of year as special as possible for residents in their communities and I would like to thank everyone who has been involved."