Two friends from Eltham have this week donated food and essentials to the value of £1,000 to Bromley Borough Foodbank.
Louise Houghton-Campion and Kasey Cowley, both 22, raised the money by selling raffle tickets to friends and family.
“We realised that donations to the foodbank would be down due to Covid so we wanted to do our bit to help,” said Louise.
The friends first met at Bullers Wood School in Chislehurst. Louise is now a trainee accountant and Kasey works for a City law firm.
On top of full-time jobs, they volunteer together at a foodbank in Mottingham every Saturday, making deliveries to people’s homes. This motivated them to start their own fundraising initiative in support of vulnerable members of the community.
The donations totalled to £1,000
They approached small businesses in Eltham, Chislehurst and Mottingham asking them to donate prizes for the raffle. The goal was to raise £150 but within a week they had sold 500 raffle tickets at £2 each.
Prizes included a car valet worth £100 from Winners Wash mobile valeting service and a full breakfast for two at Chestnuts Café in Chislehurst.
Louise and Kasey went on several shopping trips, spending every penny of the £1,000 raffle money on food, toiletries, sanitary products and baby essentials.
Greg O’Brien of Deva Yoga in Chislehurst volunteered to collect the donations from Louise’s home and transport them to Bromley Borough Foodbank.
Since the first lockdown last March, Greg and his partner Jayne Harman have co-ordinated a team of volunteers to collect and deliver weekly food donations to the foodbank and Princess Royal University Hospital. Their efforts have earned a commendation from Bromley Mayor, Hannah Gray.
Greg O’Brien of Deva Yoga volunteered to deliver the donations
Louise took to social media to thank everyone who supported the raffle: “All of the food and toiletries will go to families facing hardship, the elderly, the vulnerable and the homeless. It gives people one less thing to worry about in these difficult times.”
A similar raffle organised by the two friends last year also raised £450 for Bromley foodbank.
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