Pub charity gives food parcels to more than 60 schools

Theresa McCarthy-Dixon start a food bank in her pub during the pandemic

A charity formed in a pub during the pandemic has handed out hundreds of Christmas food parcels to more than 60 local schools to support families in need.

The McCarthy-Dixon Foundation was set up by Theresa McCarthy-Dixon who runs the Swan and Helmet in Northampton.

After initially running a food bank from the pub, the charity now helps people in the area who have been faced with hardship.

Ms McCarthy-Dixon said: "We support so many schools in this county and we fell we don’t want any family to do without this Christmas."

The food parcels were given to schools to distribute to families in need

Started in 2020, the charity also runs a community larder, cookery classes, social clubs and cut-price haircuts.

During the pandemic it supplied 67 laptops to children who were unable to access remote learning.

It now provides food parcels to community groups and local schools, which are also supplied with breakfast boxes.

Ms McCarthy-Dixon said: "This Christmas has been extremely hard. The amount of food we need is unreal."

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She said donations to the charity "have been down on other years".

"This year we’ve had to pack over 1,700 parcels and 99% of that food we’ve had to purchase ourselves and that’s a lot of money for a small charity," she said.

Volunteers from the community and local businesses helped pack and distribute the parcels

The parcels given to schools this Christmas also contain gifts alongside food items and the pub will be putting on Christmas dinners later this month for those in need.

"I’m not going to be naïve and think we’re going to get to every family but there are so many people in crisis out there, I don’t think anyone actually realises," Ms McCarthy-Dixon added.