Longfield Community Hospice in Minchinhampton is celebrating Hospice Care Week (October 5-11) by joining forces with The Long Table to ensure people in need have access to good quality and nutritious food.

Longfield Hospice and The Long Table are on a mission to help provide the families and carers who come into contact with the hospice with easy, healthy and tasty food.

During the height of the pandemic, The Long Table delivered over 40,000 free meals across the community and has now developed the Freezer of Love, where people can access freshly cooked meals, prepared from food that has been donated or otherwise may have been wasted.

Rachel Jones, head of fundraising and marketing, said: "We know that there are times when our carers and families don't have time to cook as they are busy looking after others or times when our families have been recently bereaved and food is the last thing on their mind. 

"For us to be able to surprise our families and carers with the delicious food the team at The Long Table has prepared, is going to be invaluable."

Tom Herbert, director of The Long Table, said: "We are looking forward to working with Longfield and really value the service they provide. As a team, we are passionate about ensuring access to good food for everyone that needs it - and ideally someone to eat it with.

"Often people associate the giving of food as being restricted to homelessness or for those that are struggling financially, but there are many reasons why we should use food to reach out to those in our community. There could be many causes as to why someone is struggling to prepare and eat nutritious food and we are keen to get to as many of those people as possible. We are proud to be working alongside Longfield Hospice to deliver quality food to those that are going through a difficult time."

Meals will be delivered to families and carers by the Hospice at Home Team during their visits to patients' homes or by volunteers. This special delivery of prepared meals is being trialled during Hospice Care Week, which has a theme this year of This is What it Takes.

Before the latest Covid-19 regulations came into force, the plan was for Longfield to host lunches for both carers and the bereaved at The Long Table. This is on hold for the moment, but as soon as it is possible to resume the plans safely, the two organisations will be extending invitations and delivering more exciting projects within the community.