May 30, 2012 / by lucy / Make A Comment / Filed under Challenge, Donate, Endurance, Events, Food, News
Today’s guest post comes from Vron, who along with 3 others from a local church, took part in the Lent Endurance Challenge for 7 days. Here are her thoughts and feedback:
“Having time to reflect on the experience, I found the most difficult part not having a choice in what I could eat.
It wasn’t so much the lack of food (mostly just one small meal a day) but the choice available. On one of the days I sat down to my meal and realised that I was only eating it because I had to eat something. It was not always enjoyable!
Another challenging aspect was that I had to be very organised in planning meals especially as I was out at different times of the day and I would usually pick up a sandwich, but obviously couldn’t. Most of the food in the Red Cross food parcel has to be prepared and cooked in advance.
There is generally a lack of freedom attached to living on a food parcel. I learnt so much from the experience and although it might be a cliché, I realised how very fortunate I am that I can buy and enjoy whatever I want to eat. It was sad to think that I only had to do it for 7 days when many asylum seekers rely on the food parcels for months or years. It was worth doing for the learning experience and for the money we raised for people who deserve better.”
Vron, Nick, Maggie and Pat raised a total of £922 for Boaz, which is really amazing. Well done to them and everyone else who took up the Challenge this year! If you want to show your support you can still donate by clicking here.
April 16, 2012 / by lucy / Make A Comment / Filed under Asylum, Destitution, Donate, Endurance, Events, Food
Did you know- 50% of our clients rely on the Red Cross for their food each week. We have now come to the end of the Lent Endurance Challenge this year and can announce with great delight that we have raised over £1150 so far! The even better news is there is still time to donate- click here to go to the Team Boaz page…
To everyone who has taken part, well done! We’d love your feedback on how you found the experience- what did you miss the most? What did you think of the parcel? How did you use 250g of salt?! Stories from participants to follow in the next few weeks.
March 26, 2012 / by lucy / Make A Comment / Filed under Asylum, Challenge, Destitution, Donate, Endurance, Events, Food
Yes, it’s finally arrived, the week of the Team Boaz (office staff/volunteers) Lent Endurance Challenge. It’s not a week anyone has been looking forward to (as the Boaz team are particularly big fans of chocolate and anything particularly tasty… who isn’t?!) but it is a week that we’re hoping will raise a lot of money for our work.
What is the Lent Endurance Challenge? It’s quite simple- to live for a week on a Red Cross food parcel that, for many of our clients and other destitute asylum seekers across the UK, is their only source of food, to raise awareness about destitution and to raise money for our work!
The contents of the food parcel are (roughly):
1 orange
1 apple
1 banana
1 pear
1 green pepper
2 onions
1 tin of baked beans
1 tin of spaghetti in tomato sauce
1 tin of tomatoes
1 tin of vegetable soup
1 tin of tomato soup
1 tin garden peas OR kidney beans
1 tin of sweetcorn
1 small tin of tuna
1 small tin of sardines
Peanuts (small bag)
Biscuits (1 pack)
Loaf of bread
250g pasta
250g long grain white rice
250g Semolina
250g sugar
250g salt
250ml vegetable oil
12 teabags
1 carton of apple OR orange juice (1 litre)
1 carton of UHT longlife milk (1 litre)
Thanks to all those who have donated so far- we’ve raised £175 which is fantastic. However we’d love to raise even more, so please do consider supporting us with a donation today- thank you!
