Nappies or cereal.
We’re all used to making choices when we’re grocery shopping: Custard creams or chocolate digestives for after school? Penne pasta or spaghetti for dinner? But how about this one: Nappies or breakfast for my toddler?
At the start of lockdown in March, churches round the UK started running projects like food banks to provide practical love and support to needy people nearby. Vineyard church in Cambridge started GrowKids, with the aim of passing pre-loved children’s clothes on to families in need. It soon became clear that it was easy to source clothes, but that a number of families were struggling to afford nappies for their children. Some of us from Christ Church were keen to support GrowKids, and so the nappies idea was born!
Since April, a number of people from our church family have been quietly adding a pack of nappies to their grocery shop each week (or so) and then I’ve been delivering these to GrowKids to be given to families they know. The families have been very grateful to receive them, and it’s been making a real difference. In the last couple of months, our supply has wonderfully outstripped GrowKids’ demand, and so I’ve begun regular deliveries to Hope Church Chesterton’s Food Hub and the Church of the Good Shepherd’s Community Fridge.
It has really struck me that we are a church family where many of us are (relatively) well-off, but often time poor. We long to help people in our community, but we lack the relationships or the contacts to do this…and this can paralyse us. Yet we know that God is calling us to be “generous and willing to share.” (1Tim 6:18)
So how can you get involved? Adding a pack of nappies to your grocery shop could be a really easy, practical way to bless local families who are finding life tough. It’s also a great way for us to partner with churches who already have good local relationships, and to support them in their desire to share material blessings alongside the Gospel as they serve their neighbours.
Any size, any brand of nappy is fine; contact me and I can collect them from you, or you can drop them off with me if that’s easier. Let’s use what God has given to us so abundantly to share His generosity with others.