A celebration of thanks

Tonight Emmeline's Pantry held it's first celebration to thank it's supporters and the organisations that refer the service users to the food bank.

It was a wonderful, empowering, emotional evening and I thought the billboard on the cafe wall captured the sentiment of the food bank perfectly - we believe in going the extra mile for a better tomorrow.

A few of the volunteers spoke about why they give up their time (which made me cry), one of the volunteers is a poet and she read two of her poems (which made me cry) and one of the service users talked a little about her story (which made me howl).  

They also unveiled their exhibition called 'Hidden Faces' which came about in a very random fashion. I organised an event with book club earlier this year where I asked everyone to 'lose' a book around Manchester - on the bus, in a cafe, at the cinema. Every book had a book mark saying we hoped they liked the book and all we asked in return was for them to 'like' the Facebook page of Emmeline's Pantry, and help if they felt this was a  possibility.

One of the books was found by a portrait photographer who has exhibited in the Getty and instead of putting a donation in the pot, she offered a days work for free to highlight the work of the food bank.

She photographed a number of women who have used the food bank but their faces were hidden because for some, it's not safe for them to be seen. It was a very powerful set of images.

Their celebrity ambassador came along too, Dolly-Rose Campbell, who plays Gemma in Coronation Street and we had a chat about knitting and crochet as she loves it too!

Everyone left knowing exactly why we all support the food bank and went away with a renewed passion to try to do even more.

Quote for today:
Behind every mask there is a face, and behind that a story.
- Marty Rubin