An amazing festive mission to provide 250 underprivileged families with the ingredients for 1,750 free meals for Christmas week has been realised.
Dumfries dad Lee Vann-Wakelin has been working since October to pull off his big-hearted vision for a seven-day hamper of food after recognising the plight of many in the current economic
climate.
And, with the support of volunteers to bag and distribute the supplies over a number of days in a military-style operation last week, all the hampers filled with donated food went out to those who needed them across the region.
Lee said: “The aim was to do 250 Christmas hampers, with each one having the ingredients to make seven evening hot meals for families of four to six people and that included Christmas dinner.
“The 250 hampers contain food for 1,750 meals, so that could mean up to 10,500 servings over the seven days.
“We asked the public to help by making a donation to help us buy the ingredients and every £42 we raised paid for a hamper. We have been overwhelmed by the support which has come from everywhere and thank everyone who helped make it happen.”
Last year, helped by his wife, Louisa, and children – Lincoln, Jaydon, Kennedie, Miyah and Liberty – volunteers and public support, the 47-year-old learning assistant at Dumfries High School asked local chefs to come up with recipes for seven meals.
He then asked the public and local businesses to raise funds or donate items on a shopping list to get the ingredients for each meal.
They were bagged up into hampers and distributed to 150 families nominated by local aid
agencies.
Lee told the Standard the aim of his “Christmas Gesture 2022” was to go the extra mile and is “delighted” to have pulled it off.
And he thanked everyone who got on board with donations, helped to buy and collect the foodstuffs, bagged up the hampers and then delivered them in time for Christmas.
He said: “It was an amazing scene seeing so many people giving up four or five hours at a time just lifting, shifting, counting and so on over a number of days to make it happen at this busy time of year.”
The theme for the meals this year was comfort food and, as well as a three-course Christmas dinner, each hamper included ingredients for family favourites such as tandoori chicken and Basmati rice, sausage casserole and beef chilli with cheesy nachos.
They are: Aberlour; Lochside Community Centre; River of Life; D&GLift; Dumfries YMCA; Kate’s Kitchen in Annan; Dumfries Veterans Garden; Women’s Aid; Calside Primary; New Abbey Primary; Kirkcudbright Primary; Kirkbean Primary; Loreburn Primary; St Teresa’s Primary; Eastriggs Primary; Brydekirk Primary; Wallace Hall Academy; Dumfries High School; Dalbeattie Primary; Summerhill Community; Buddies and Sandside Community Garden.
Among the many people Lee wants to thank are: Samuel and Kate Patterson, staff at Morrisons, Iceland and Tescos in Dumfries; Bookers; Covetrus drivers and volunteers: Allan Snod Wells, Kevin Cravens, Andy Lilly, Graeme Tait, Mike Mackenzie, Angela Walker, Caitlin Goodwin, Darrell Klose, Jude Weddell, Darran Kirkpatrick, Ryan Wield, Graeme Campbell, Ann Walton, Jodie Muir, Karen Dalrymple, Euan Macleod, Peter Graves, Colin Williamson and John Graves.
