Now you can ‘donate a drink’ online

The Lewes Pound ‘Donate a Drink’ scheme is now available online, enabling gifts of Lewes Pounds to be donated to local food bank users to spend how they wish locally, as Susan Murray explains

Times are really hard right now for many in our community, especially those using our local food banks. The Lewes Pound has been supporting food bank clients for a number of years with our Donate a Drink scheme, which operates in a number of local businesses – Cheese Please, Depot Cinema, Harveys, the Patisserie, and Seasons.

What is ‘Donate a Drink’?

Under the scheme, you add £3 to your bill, which is then given out in envelopes of Lewes Pounds to clients of the local food banks. The donations can be spent by recipients anywhere in town that accepts Lewes Pounds.

Food banks can provide the basics, but there is more to life than survival and we know just how much it means to their clients when they can take their family to the cinema, have a coffee out, or just buy good quality food from local businesses.  One recipient of Lewes Pounds said that for the first time ever she was able to go into Bags of Books and buy books for her grandchildren. It’s a win-win really: food bank clients get some pleasure and control and in turn get to put more money into Lewes’ local businesses.

Donating online

Donations have dropped off recently, putting in doubt our ability to provide the much-appreciated envelopes in the run-up to Christmas. So we have also set up a JustGiving page, making it easy for anyone to go online and donate, as well as donating through the five local participating businesses above.

Visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lewespoundsforfoodbankclients. Every donation will be very much appreciated.