Don't Panic Mr Mainwairing !

Yesterday Maureen and I were lining up with all the other panic buyers outside Morrissons waiting for the doors to open. We only spent £50 which I do not truly consider panic buying, that is well less than the sum we spend each week on shopping. The thing is with people stripping the supermarket shelves if you do not panic buy then you will be left without what you need.

It is surely certain that we will soon follow the examples of other countries and go into lock down at one level or another. If you ask me the government is acting in a sound and good way, balancing issues, reacting and not over reacting.

For The Sunshine Smile Crew some of our projects have already gone on to the back burner: Our community payback team, blood donors and others. I was hoping we would have enough Smile Cards signed by Easter to send to the families round the world in our Ronald Project, families with a child sick in hospital. However, with flights grounded there is no Air Mail so we are not going to be able to send anything !

There is one project which rather than going on the back burner is going to demand a much greater involvement.

I am assuming Dreamsai's Lunch Of Love will take place this coming Saturday but there is a danger it may within another couple of weeks be forced to close. IMMEDIATELY we need to up our game and in the longer-term we are going to need to dramatically increase support for our vulnerable friends but perhaps in a slightly different way.

Tomorrow I am going to panic buy as many of the ingredients we need for next Saturday as will remain in date. We normally put together 32 packed teas but last week we ran

out so I propose to up this number to 40. We now have the beautiful support of the community fridge on Coffee Hall but we will probably need to spend £45 on this and that. The money will have to come out of my pocket.

Everyone kept telling me to set up a Go Fund Me Page to pay for what we need. Eventually I gave in but we have only received a single donation. CHECK THE PAGE OUT AND ADD YOUR DONATION.

I want to speak with Lisa at SMART and take her advice as to how we can proceed if and when some form of lock down kicks in.

I think there is an immediate need to take packed meals around our rough-sleeping friends during the middle of the week, if lock down kicks in then we have to go out on as many days of the week as we can. My guesstimate is we will need £25 for every day. CHECK THE PAGE OUT AND ADD YOUR DONATION.

Richard, who rough-sleeps by the railway station, and I are working on the writing project DOWN AND OUT IN MILTON DREAMS. This is a project to inject some positive activity into the lives of those who are right down on their luck and at the same time give us something we can use to raise awareness. We do already have people writing but I want to throw this open as quickly as possible to as many people as possible. BUT MONEY IS INVOLVED.

Richard and I want to pay people for the writing they give us, £10 for a detailed story. That is not a lot but it will be of so much worth to our friends. We need money NOW !  Again it

comes down to the Go Fund Me Page. CHECK THE PAGE OUT AND ADD YOUR DONATION.

Please do not panic buy but PLEASE do PANIC DONATE any sum you can afford to help our friends in the Sunshine Smile Crew project which is not going on to the back burner but demanding LOVE at a new and higher  level.

CHECK THE PAGE OUT AND ADD YOUR DONATION.