Giving away Christmas meals
17th December 2020
The Chaplaincy is offering 100 Christmas dinners to UoG students unable to go home for Christmas…
This week, the chaplaincy team are preparing to hand out up to a hundred Christmas dinners to students staying at university over the Christmas holidays. That includes international students and those who are unable to be with their family this year and students living in the UK not able to commute back home.
FCH Chaplain Simon Witcombe says: “When I heard about the Christmas meals being provided by The Long Table I thought they would be a great way to show students who weren’t able to go home over Christmas that they were not forgotten. As chaplains we have been thinking about international students who can’t travel back home this year – and UK students in that situation too. The Long Table is a wonderful local project, based near Stroud. It’s headed by one of the ‘Fabulous Baker Brothers’, Tom Herbert, and it produces meals that are extremely tasty and nutritious. The Christmas meals come ready to be heated in a microwave, with some nice extras – a table setting, napkin, party hat and card. We really hope the students will enjoy them. And any left over will go local families in need this Christmas.”
The meals are being provided by The Long Table, a community food hall. They work all year round to support community food hubs and local supply chains around Gloucestershire. They have worked extra hard this year during the lockdowns to provide over 50 hot meals a week and 48,000 frozen meals to those in need of support.
Each meal comes with a place setting, Christmas hat, napkin and a card, to offer a little Christmas spirit to what could be a lonely festive season for a number of students. Students can choose from one of three options; a Christmas dinner with meat that includes chicken baked in our Christmas spice rub, roast carrots, sprouts and potatoes, bread sauce, a pig in a blanket, pickled red cabbage and gravy.
Alternatively, students can opt for a veggie or vegan and gluten free option. The veggie option includes a slice of Christmas roast, roast carrots, sprouts and potatoes, bread sauce, squash baked in Christmas spice rub, pickled red cabbage and gravy.
The vegan and gluten free Christmas dinner come with a slice of Christmas roast, roast carrots and sprouts, an extra serving of roast potatoes, squash baked in Christmas spice rub, pickled red cabbage and gluten free gravy.
Sounds good right? Are you now wondering how to get your hands on one? The university Accommodation team have sent out an email to all students in halls with an online form to fill in. These meals will be delivered on the 22nd of December. Meals are also being offered to International students in the International students Facebook pages.
If you’re a student who is not living in halls or an international student, you can still email Simon Witcombe, the FCH chaplain at switcombe@glos.ac.uk if you would like a meal. Just include your preferences!
The chaplaincy team have also organised a drop-in for international students to share some Christmas nibbles, mulled wine and Christmas crafting on the 22nd of December at 12:30pm until 2:00pm in the Chapel at FCH , and international students and those not in halls can also pick up their Christmas meals then.