Social Justice

Food bank appeals for donations with 'joyous' remake of The Twelve Days of Christmas

The team has created festive music video to bring you smiles. Now they need your help to support people living in poverty this Christmas

food bank christmas video

The team at Southend Foodbank alongside folk band The Famous Potatoes. Image: Southend Foodbank

A food bank has created a “joyous and slightly ramshackle” Christmas music video to inspire people to donate this festive season.

The team at Southend Foodbank got together with ‘local folk heroes’, brilliantly named The Famous Potatoes, and have created their own version of The Twelve Days of Christmas.

But they’ve switched out the famous lyrics (partridge in a pear tree, two turtle doves, three french hens… we could go on) with the food donations they most need this Christmas.

Cass Francis, communications and campaigns coordinator at Southend Foodbank, had the idea for The Twelve Crates of Christmas earlier this year.

“I’d half-jokingly asked our volunteer Keith Baxter if the folk band he’s in would be interested in recording it,” Francis said. “It all became a reality in October when I wrote the new words, and The Potatoes set about recording it.

“We wanted the song to be joyous and slightly ramshackle in nature – and I think that’s exactly what we’ve managed to achieve. The video was especially fun to record – and we hope this comes across.”

Francis previously spoke to The Big Issue about the struggles they are facing at the food bank and the worries she has going into the winter.

“We’ve got no way of knowing how we’re going to survive this winter. We really don’t. I shouldn’t be saying that really but it’s the truth,” she said. “We’re not the only ones in this situation. We are literally desperate.”

Southend Foodbank is currently spending more than £10,000 a month to top up food donations, which aren’t stretching far enough as demand continues to soar in the cost of living crisis.

It has seen a 59% increase in the number of emergency food parcels this year compared to last. This is the most parcels the food bank has ever provided.

Francis added: “We just don’t have the finances available to buy Christmas extras to give to our guests the way we normally would, so this Christmas food-drive is really our way of encouraging people to think about others – to help spread the hope and goodwill the season brings.”

Instead of waiting for your true love to send you golden rings and geese-a-laying this Christmas, why not give mince pies or cans of tuna to a food bank? Every donation helps and makes a difference to someone relying on food banks to survive this Christmas.

The song is available on your usual streaming platform – Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal, Amazon Music, YouTube Music. Listen to it here.

You can find more details on Southend Foodbank’s most needed items, and donation points here. And find out how to donate to a food bank near you here.

Support your local Big Issue vendor

If you can’t get to your local vendor every week, subscribing directly to them online is the best way to support your vendor. Your chosen vendor will receive 50% of the profit from each copy and the rest is invested back into our work to create opportunities for people affected by poverty.
Vendor martin Hawes

Recommended for you

View all
DWP warned benefit claimants face 'poor customer service' and 'long waiting times'
dwp
BENEFITS

DWP warned benefit claimants face 'poor customer service' and 'long waiting times'

'Shameful stuff': Labour suspends seven rebel MPs who voted to end two-child benefit cap
keir starmer
Two-child benefit cap

'Shameful stuff': Labour suspends seven rebel MPs who voted to end two-child benefit cap

DWP should prioritise supporting benefit claimants over sanctions, most people say
jobcentre plus/ dwp
Department for Work and Pensions

DWP should prioritise supporting benefit claimants over sanctions, most people say

Campaigners welcome closure of Bibby Stockholm asylum barge – but Labour faces calls to go further
Bibby Stockholm
Bibby Stockholm

Campaigners welcome closure of Bibby Stockholm asylum barge – but Labour faces calls to go further

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know