A business owner based in a Co Down village has spoken of the community coming together for support during tough times.
Samantha Gillespie opened her own business, MANE Hairstyling, in Ballygowan six years ago with just herself and one salon chair. She said she has been "deeply overwhelmed" with support from locals from the beginning.
Over the years, she has been doing all she can to give back to the area, and this year is taking it one step further by running a food bank to help locals through the cost of living crisis.
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As she's used to running community events over the Christmas period, she's hoping this food bank will be able to help those struggling during this time.
"From the beginning, I was deeply overwhelmed with how much the local community supported me," Samantha told Belfast Live.
"I am still in business but now have five working salon chairs going because of those locals who have supported me from the start. I like to show I am extremely grateful by supporting the local schools and nursery in their fundraising also I am a sponsor for the local Ballygowan Football Club.
"Every Christmas as a massive thank you to the village I bring Santa into the salon. We dress it up like a little grotto and this is a completely free event for all the children."
Last year, Samantha and her partner Mark made up 200 sweetie bags for local children, with her daughter Zara and her friends handing one out to every child when they meet Santa.
Even during the pandemic, the team were dedicated to making sure local children wouldn't miss out, and so Santa was seated outside and two meters away.
Running a local Facebook page for shops in the village, Samantha ran a school uniform appeal last year and rehomed 95 uniforms. As rising costs continued, she and others in the area began thinking about how they could help further, when they decided to run a food bank.
Samantha said: "I run the Ballygowan Shop Local page on Facebook, which keeps locals informed of offers and services available in the area. Over Summer, I got thinking about the rising costs of food and energy and how hard it would be to afford school uniforms for families with multiple children. I have one child and she costs a fortune to get back to school.
"I decided to hit social media with a post asking parents to keep the old uniforms and drop them of to MANE Hairstyling. We got so many uniforms for three local schools it took me and my partner a whole weekend to go through and sort sizes. My house was like a uniform shop.
"Now with even more rising costs it got me thinking again about the price of a weekly food shop, especially for working families trying to pay bills and keep full bellies.
"These are shocking hard times. So I hit social media again saying I was running a local food bank from my salon with a box."
Starting off small with a box in her salon, Samantha said she's been inundated with offers of help from local businesses and organisations.
"Our salon box started to fill up fast with our clients bringing kind offerings. Then offers of help flooded in and phone calls started," she added.
"The local orange hall offered storage, Rev Nick Cooper from Ballygowan Presbyterian Church & Ravara NSP Church very generously give us their harvest offering, the local Ballygowan Spar put out a basket with a print of my Facebook message, the Vivo Essentials put out a basket.
"Another local business the Knitting Nest NI put out ideas online of a reverse advent calendar. Stephen Gibson Butcher and Rachel Dickson from Pizza Girl pizza has a small change collection so we can turn the small change into family food vouchers."
The grouping together of the local community has made Samantha "so proud" to live in Ballygowan, and she's hoping other areas will be inspired to come together to help each other out during tough times too.
She said: "I am so proud to live and run my business in Ballygowan. We are a community that comes together, all the traders within the village support each other. The local community keeps the traders going.
"We are now living in such times we need to support each other. As a business owner I am very blessed with the best clientele that support every move I have made.
"If I was speaking to another business I would say support your local community as they support you, it works both ways. It would be amazing to see more businesses getting involved in their communities."
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