Christmas is a time of joy and celebration but for those living on the breadline, Christmas can emphasise the difficulty of their circumstances. For the past 18 years, Three Rivers Vineyard Church (previously Truro Vineyard Church) have been collecting Christmas dinner boxes to give away through Cornwall Council’s Social Services team to those in need. Jesus taught us to feed the poor and hungry, and this us trying to do that.

In 2012 we felt challenged to expand the Christmas Box appeal to the broader community, wanting to help as many people as possible. We collected just over 200 boxes in 2014, 120 in 2015, and 257 in 2016. In 2017 we had a target of 300, or 500 if you asked Heather. We thought she was being ambitious – but you all donated 540 boxes in total, so she was right!

For 2018, we collected almost 1,000 boxes, which were distributed to hundreds of families in need, across the length and breadth of Cornwall. And last year we collected a whopping 1200 boxes.  Once again, we were blown away by everyone’s generosity.  There are no words!

We are unashamedly, a Christian charity, we don’t have any preferences for where the boxes go, or where they come from.  In fact we don’t directly distribute the boxes ourselves, we rely on partners in Social Care, Food Banks and other 3rd party organisations that already have contact with people in need.  We don’t add anything to the boxes that you donate, our only aim is help feed as many hungry people as possible.

Find out more: 3 Rivers Vineyard Church