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"My husband and son both got COVID, with really high temperatures and terrible headaches, and I was so scared and anxious that it was easier to get busy than watch the news. It started with a few of us cooking for friends and family who were in hospital, but as the hospital canteens closed there was no food for all these hungry doctors and nurses either, so it quickly snowballed into the formation of 'You Donate, We Deliver'. All my friends are excellent chefs, as is my daughter-in-law who was isolating with us, so I asked for their help. Then I put out calls on social media too, thinking, ‘If they're happy to prepare 50 meals, they’ve got to be good, otherwise they’d never volunteer'. So many vans of food started turning up that I put up a big white tent on our drive to store all the deliveries. Then I’d portion up enough ingredients for 50 meals and go, ‘That’s for Gill, that’s for Susan, that’s for Claire.’ Once the cooked, boxed-up and allergy-labelled meals came back, they went to this hub to be sorted, so each of about 20 hospitals had the right number of vegetarian, meat, fish and chicken ones. We delivered individually-wrapped cakes and biscuits too. I realised how privileged I was to be able to serve dinner to my family every night, so I really wanted to do that for others. At its height we were providing 650 meals a day. Then we started collecting and redistributing things like baby and kids’ clothes and household items for refugees and people in poverty too.
"I just worked all the time and I loved it. I was always on the phone, or doing rotas, filling in spreadsheets, dealing with cancellations, having to beg, borrow and fundraise. Really my job was just being very bossy, telling people what to do and how they could best help. There was a great community spirit and everyone loved it because they didn't feel so lonely and felt involved with something, which is what we all wanted. Now people are always saying, ‘Ooh, you’re the woman with the big tent!’. They don’t actually know me, they just remember the white tent. It stuck out like a sore thumb so everybody knew where to come!"
"My husband and son both got COVID, with really high temperatures and terrible headaches, and I was so scared and anxious that it was easier to get busy than watch the news. It started with a few of us cooking for friends and family who were in hospital, but as the hospital canteens closed there was no food for all these hungry doctors and nurses either, so it quickly snowballed into the formation of 'You Donate, We Deliver'. All my friends are excellent chefs, as is my daughter-in-law who was isolating with us, so I asked for their help. Then I put out calls on social media too, thinking, ‘If they're happy to prepare 50 meals, they’ve got to be good, otherwise they’d never volunteer'. So many vans of food started turning up that I put up a big white tent on our drive to store all the deliveries. Then I’d portion up enough ingredients for 50 meals and go, ‘That’s for Gill, that’s for Susan, that’s for Claire.’ Once the cooked, boxed-up and allergy-labelled meals came back, they went to this hub to be sorted, so each of about 20 hospitals had the right number of vegetarian, meat, fish and chicken ones. We delivered individually-wrapped cakes and biscuits too. I realised how privileged I was to be able to serve dinner to my family every night, so I really wanted to do that for others. At its height we were providing 650 meals a day. Then we started collecting and redistributing things like baby and kids’ clothes and household items for refugees and people in poverty too.
"I just worked all the time and I loved it. I was always on the phone, or doing rotas, filling in spreadsheets, dealing with cancellations, having to beg, borrow and fundraise. Really my job was just being very bossy, telling people what to do and how they could best help. There was a great community spirit and everyone loved it because they didn't feel so lonely and felt involved with something, which is what we all wanted. Now people are always saying, ‘Ooh, you’re the woman with the big tent!’. They don’t actually know me, they just remember the white tent. It stuck out like a sore thumb so everybody knew where to come!"
"My husband and son both got COVID, with really high temperatures and terrible headaches, and I was so scared and anxious that it was easier to get busy than watch the news. It started with a few of us cooking for friends and family who were in hospital, but as the hospital canteens closed there was no food for all these hungry doctors and nurses either, so it quickly snowballed into the formation of 'You Donate, We Deliver'. All my friends are excellent chefs, as is my daughter-in-law who was isolating with us, so I asked for their help. Then I put out calls on social media too, thinking, ‘If they're happy to prepare 50 meals, they’ve got to be good, otherwise they’d never volunteer'. So many vans of food started turning up that I put up a big white tent on our drive to store all the deliveries. Then I’d portion up enough ingredients for 50 meals and go, ‘That’s for Gill, that’s for Susan, that’s for Claire.’ Once the cooked, boxed-up and allergy-labelled meals came back, they went to this hub to be sorted, so each of about 20 hospitals had the right number of vegetarian, meat, fish and chicken ones. We delivered individually-wrapped cakes and biscuits too. I realised how privileged I was to be able to serve dinner to my family every night, so I really wanted to do that for others. At its height we were providing 650 meals a day. Then we started collecting and redistributing things like baby and kids’ clothes and household items for refugees and people in poverty too. 