Autumn 2021 newsletter
Welcome to our autumn newsletter. We’ve had a fantastically busy few months, so please use the links below to navigate to the content that most interests you.
Fashion with Friends: a storming success!
We recently held our biggest event to date, Fashion with Friends, a sustainable fashion evening. We are delighted to report that it was an enormous success raising over £5,000 so far.
‘We know that many local families will find this coming winter exceedingly difficult, so to be able to raise this amount of money is going to be tremendously helpful,’ said Kelly Barlow, Friends for Family trustee and event organiser.
The event sold out, with over 120 people enjoying an evening of canapes, bubbles, and shopping! It was wonderful to meet so many of you and we hope you enjoyed our evening. From the feedback we have had to date, it looks like you did and that many of you are enjoying your new buys!
“Had a blast last night. Am wearing a new top today and cool jacket! Would love it if you did this again at some point.”
“Thank you so much to you all for a fabulous event. It was a huge undertaking and I hope it raised lots of funds for F4F. Certainly from the buzz in the room it should have 🤞”
“Thank you so much for such a fabulous evening.”
Thank you again to our sponsors and supporters, Manak Solicitors, @thehappygrazingcompany, Tubs Hill Dry Cleaners, Amy Hall of @hallandco, Karen Savage from @the_style_house_brasted, Fleur McCrone of @stylistfleur, @bellarosalingerie, Emmeline Rolfe Trimblett from The Lodge at Riverhead and @meadowskincareuk.
Counting down to Christmas: your help needed
Since 2017, we have run our Christmas appeal where we organise gifts for underprivileged children who otherwise may not receive a Christmas present. It is always an immensely popular project in the community, and we would love your support again this year.
In 2020, our Christmas appeal allowed us to provide 269 children with two gifts each, and 114 families with a large bag of food for the Christmas period. This is almost double what we were able to provide in 2019. If you would like to get involved, whether to provide a gift for a child or non-perishable food items for a family in need please email us at F4Fchristmas@outlook.com.
As we have grown, we need to find appropriate storage for our Christmas Project items in the run up to December. If you have appropriate storage and would be kind enough to let us use it, please do contact us on F4Fchristmas@outlook.com.
Riverhead Carnival
In September, we were thrilled to be back out in the community at our first event post-covid, the Riverhead Carnival. Our putting game helped us raise funds and, just as importantly, remind people what we’re all about. It was great to see so many of our supporters there a well as meeting new friends.
Why we matter: our impact in numbers
Between April-October 2021, we dealt with 122 referrals from social services. This resulted in us providing nearly £42,000 of resources for families in desperate need of help in the Sevenoaks District and Dartford. This included the following.
Food and drink: £9,092 on 98 food shops
Baby supplies: £2,075
Clothes and shoes: £2,115
Washing machins, cookers and fridge freezers: £4,481
Beds and mattresses: £3,951
Other furniture: £3,121
Carpets and bedding: £7,759
It’s your support that made this huge contribution possible. Thank you.
How you can help
Thank you for everything you do to support our work. Each newsletter we will highlight ways you can get involved in our work, should you wish to do so. This time, we’re asking for your support for our Christmas appeal. If you have storage space or want to contribute a gift for a child or food for a family for this festive season, please email us at F4FChristmas@outlook.com.