Kind pub donates food to Walsall community
Kind staff from a Walsall pub which has closed due to the coronavirus lockdown has donated its food to hospital staff and vulnerable residents.
Old House At Home, in Pelsall, cooked up hot meals and handed out a range of other food products to the needy in the community rather than throwing it out as they wait until they can reopen.
It started earlier this week when manager Sam Wilkes and her son, Tom, delivered sandwiches to Walsall Manor Hospital for the grateful staff.
Further deliveries of food were made to Acorns Children’s Hospice and, after a post went up on social media asking people to get in touch if they were in need of food, they started taking them around to elderly and vulnerable residents in the village.
While their kindness has been met with tears of joy and gratitude, Sam said she wished she could do more to help.
She added she had seen a lot of community spirit from others since the crisis deepened and urged others to keep on supporting those who need help.
Among the food they delivered were chicken or beef dinners, puddings sandwiches, soup, porridge and biscuits.
She said: “With the pub having to close, we had a lot of stock that would have gone to waste and thrown away but I thought I could make better use of it.
“When the message went out, we have a massive response. We had people messaging the page asking things like “can you take them to my grandparents who can’t get out and I can’t get to them”.
“There are people who were severely disabled and they couldn’t get any food.
“We went out delivering for two days and people have been really grateful. I just wish I had more and help everyone.
“A lot of people out there have got community spirit, I had people contact me on behalf of others they are not even related to but wanted to help.
“I’ve had people crying because they had a hot meal to collect for someone else. They get emotional about it.”
She added: “People also need to be aware of what they can still do. There was someone sitting outside the Co-op looking anxious and had been living on crisps. They are frightened.
“Some out there are probably living on nothing and we need to be looking out for neighbours and asking if they need a hand.
“People need to help people and look out for them. They are not always old, there are many with disabilities.
“The goodwill we’ve seen on the streets is amazing because it’s heartbreaking to see people with nothing.”
Pelsall ward councillor Garry Perry said: “This is an example of how people are responding selflessly for others in this difficult situation.”
