Thank You Church of Ireland

The Church of Ireland in Whitehead and Islandmagee asked those at the annual Harvest Festival Services this year to donate non-perishable items to Whitehead Storehouse, providing a list of the most needed items. St Patrick’s Church held their Harvest Service on 2 October 2022. St John’s Islandmagee is to hold their service on 16th October.

Donations from St Patrick’s service have now been delivered to Whitehead Storehouse and will be stored there, ready for emergency food supplies to be provided for those in need in the local area.

As everyone has no doubt noticed, fuel supply costs (oil, gas, electricity) are increasing sharply. This is on top of steady increases in the cost of food and other items from the shops. More people may well be faced with “Heat or Eat” decisions this winter than last year and Whitehead Storehouse is extremely grateful to those who donated items that can be used to provide emergency food packs to local families facing a short term crisis, for whatever reason.

Thank You Methodist Church Whitehead

The Methodist Church, Whitehead, Minister, Stephen Woods, held its harvest festival service on Sunday 25 September 2022, with all donations going to Whitehead Storehouse. The congregation and visitors provided a fantastic response to the call for non-perishable food to help those who would otherwise go hungry this winter. The pictures below show the amazing contributions that were transported to Whitehead Storehouse.

These will all be used to help those at economic disadvantage in the Whitehead area.

Many thanks to all those who donated or helped in any way.

UPDATE

More bags of food have since been received from Whitehead Methodist Church plus a very generous financial donation from a member of the Church, plus an offer of white goods.

Many thanks for the additional help. It will all be put to good use.

Thank You Lighthouse Bistro

Lighthouse Bistro

Grateful thanks to The Lighthouse Bistro, Whitehead, its customers and to Erica Lutzman for organising a fundraiser on behalf of Whitehead Storehouse. Over £200 was raised in the short space of 3 hours, every penny of which will go to help economically deprived residents of the local area.

With the cost of living and the cost of heating rising for everyone, this is going to be a hard winter for many, who will struggle to stay warm or feed their children. It also means that donors may well be finding the economic situation harder, so we are extremely grateful to all those who donated and of course to the Lighthouse Bistro for organising the fundraiser.

Baby Massage Classes Larne

Baby Massage

Home Start East Antrim are running 4 weeks of baby massage during October at the Sandy Bay Pavilion in Larne. The sessions are facilitated by a qualified instructor, are totally free, and all resources and refreshments will be provided. It is possible that more classes will be scheduled later in the year if these classes are successful.

Pre-Crawling Babies Only

The sessions are designed as an opportunity for new mums to get out and meet other mums and are open to mums with babies from 4 weeks to pre-crawling. (We do not have facilities to accommodate siblings at these sessions)

Eligibility

We do have an eligibility criteria for these sessions (mainly that mums are facing social isolation and would benefit from mixing with other new mums)

We are particularly keen to engage mums not in the Larne Sure Start area to avoid duplication of services and ensure we reach those most vulnerable to isolation.

Harvest Thanksgiving Service 2022

Harvest Thanksgiving Services are a means of showing gratitude for everything you have and for supporting others who, through no fault of their own, are in need of help. This coming winter will be difficult for everyone, with cost of living and fuel price increases meaning that some will have to choose between heating and eating. Donated gifts at services are often given to those in need. Donations given to Whitehead Storehouse should, where possible, be non-perishable items with a long shelf life. These will be used to provide emergency food help to local people in Whitehead, Islandmagee and Ballycarry in need.

Local Harvest Thanksgiving Services

Whitehead Methodist Church

The Harvest Thanksgiving Service for Whitehead Methodist Church will be held on Sunday 25th September 2022 at 10.30am. The service will be collecting items for Whitehead Storehouse

National Churches Trust on Flickr.com

St Patrick’s and St John’s Church of Ireland Whitehead

St Patricks and St Johns

Harvest Festival Services 2 and 16 October 2022 at St Patrick’s and St John’s CoI will support Whitehead Storehouse.

Top 10 items

small tins of food for single individual
Tinned tuna and meats
Packet pasta and Rice
Canned fruit, custard, rice pudding
Cereals, porridge
Sugar, tea, coffee, biscuits,
Tinned veg / baked beans
Pasta sauce, curry sauce in jars
Shampoo, toothpaste, shower gel
Toilet Rolls, washing powder

Whitehead Storehouse is most grateful for donations that we can use to help people in economic deprivation.

We are happy to add any further Harvest Festival details to this post.

Referrals to Whitehead Storehouse

Storehouse

Whitehead Storehouse is an independent foodbank, not affiliated to the big foodbanks. We cover the Whitehead, Islandmagee and Ballycarry areas only.

Referrals

While most of our requests come from individuals in the area we cover, we can also help families and individuals in the area who have been referred by helping agencies.

We do not require any vouchers, nor do we have any set opening hours, nor waiting times for help to be provided. We do, however, liaise with other agencies in the area to ensure that our resources are shared fairly among those most in need.

If you are a member of a team or agency that helps individuals and families in the Whitehead, Ballycarry and Islandmagee areas and believe that one of your clients needs help with food, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time.

Contact Us

We have a dedicated mobile phone number – 0759 621 3763 that you can ring or text, as well as an email – whiteheadstorehouse@gmail.com. You can also message us from our Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/storehousewhitehead/ These are manned by volunteers, so may not always be answered immediately but are checked regularly.

What To Expect

We will need the person’s name and address and a contact number, so we can phone them and find out what they need and the best time to deliver. Most of our volunteers use withheld numbers to contact clients, so your client needs to know to expect a call from a withheld number or it may say “no caller ID”. The Storehouse provides only food but if a client needs other items, such as baby clothes or bedding, for instance, we may be able to suggest other groups that may be able to help.

Storehouse Resources

The food that Whitehead Storehouse supplies to people in need comes from local supermarkets and also from local donors. We are extremely grateful to all those donors for the food they give us for sharing out with those in need.

Winner – First Prize Donation From ASDA Foundation Larne

WINNER – First Prize

Many thanks to all those who voted for Whitehead Storehouse to receive a donation from ASDA, Larne.

Whitehead Storehouse has been declared the winner of the £500 1st prize from ASDA Foundation, Larne from their Green Token Giving Fund.

The ASDA Foundation donates £1 million pounds every year to good causes in local communities. Anyone can vote online for a local cause dear to their heart. This time the voters chose Whitehead Storehouse as the overall winner for the Larne ASDA store, with runners up being Curran Bowling Club and Friends of Larne Adult Centre, Congratulations to them too.

Again, thank you so much for voting for Whitehead Storehouse, the prize will go towards helping disadvantaged families and individuals in Whitehead and the surrounding area.

Spend Local £100 Prepaid Card

Every adult resident in Northern Ireland was entitled to apply for a £100 “Spend Local” card from NI Direct. The application date has now passed but a number of people are still waiting for the arrival of their cards. Some people may have had concerns about applying for these cards or of spending the money as they were not in immediate need themselves. The cards were aimed at providing income for local bricks and mortar businesses which have suffered greatly during the recent lockdowns and with the restrictions still in place.

If you have applied for a card and are concerned about spending the amount on yourself, perhaps you would consider purchasing vouchers from local shops in Whitehead and the surrounding areas and donating them to Whitehead Storehouse for distribution to local families in need? This will still provide an income to local businesses, to help them offset the losses they have suffered in the past 18 months and will also help local families who are in economic difficulties.

A number of businesses in Whitehead provide vouchers for purchase, including The Spar, McMasters Butchers and The Fruit Shop. If you would prefer to use another shop, ask them if they provide vouchers. These shops are also willing to hold onto these vouchers for you and then providing them to Whitehead Storehouse. Alternatively you can contact Whitehead Storehouse as usual, to pass on to a committee member.

Community Fridge

Community Fridges are a fairly new concept where food that would otherwise go to waste is put into a fridge for anyone to use. This gives individuals and families the opportunity to try something they might not otherwise buy and helps reduce waste. Here is a PDF document about community fridges in the Mid & East Antrim Area of Northern Ireland. Just click on the link below to open the PDF document.

Community Fridges MEA

UPDATE June 2022

Community Fridge – Eden

There is a community fridge at Eden Community Centre on the Beltoy Road, Carrickfergus, which gets frequent donations of food, both chilled and store cupboard plus flowers.

It has its own Facebook page with daily updates on donations and a map to show how to reach it.

Community Fridge – Islandmagee

There is a community fridge at Ballystrudder, Islandmagee, opposite the Islandmagee Spar shop. This also has donations from the community garden.

What Does Whitehead Storehouse Do

Whitehead Storehouse

Whitehead Storehouse is an independent food bank. It provides confidential help to individuals and families in urgent, emergency need of food or other necessities in the Whitehead, Ballycarry and Islandmagee areas.

What Whitehead Storehouse Does

We offer short term emergency help with food and other necessities to those in economic difficulties, with the aim of tiding them over an immediate crisis, so they can eventually leave their difficulties behind. We have helped a number of people over the past number of years. Whitehead Storehouse is not associated with any other food banks and does not have opening hours, nor do you need a referral from any other agency to contact us or to receive help. You can contact us by phone or text at 0759 621 3763 or by email to whiteheadstorehouse@gmail.com .

We also work with local large stores and supermarkets who provide us with food that has reached its sell by date but is still OK to eat. We distribute this weekly or less often, depending on what and how much is available and the calls for help that are being made.

Help is based on your needs, nothing else. We do our best to distribute our resources fairly and equitably, to help the greatest number of people possible.

If you are finding it difficult to manage financially at the moment and need help with food or other necessities, please get in touch in complete privacy by phone or text at 0759 621 3763 or by email to whiteheadstorehouse@gmail.com .

What Whitehead Storehouse CANNOT Do

We are not in a position to offer long term financial support but are happy to point you to other agencies that may be able to help if needed.

Privacy

Any help you receive from Whitehead Storehouse will be kept confidential.

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