I'M starving! I’m absolutely famished! I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!

How many times have you said that, or something similar in the course of the past year?

I doubt very much that you were really starving, or that you could actually have tucked into the winner of the 3.20pm at Chepstow.

Maybe you found yourself watching an Oxfam advert or a documentary on famine in Africa and found yourself feeling ashamed of your selfishness as you viewed swollen bellies and anxious faces, from the comfort of your armchair.

But hunger and poverty don’t just effect the developing world, nor is it only found beyond our shores.

Many of our local schools are celebrating Harvest this month and in my community some of them have been sending their collected groceries to Thurrock Foodbank.

This is a fast-growing local organisation that exists to alleviate genuine poverty in our local area.

Not so far from you, a child is going to school hungry and a single parent is worried about where the next meal will come from.

Foodbank, a national initiative with a local expression, collects non-perishable groceries and distributes food parcels from distribution points to needy families referred to them.

Can you help? We need food and we need funds. Please contact me on 01375 670582 or via e-mail at Gof4God@aol.com.

Jesus once said that when we do this kind of thing for others, we actually do it for Him.

Now that’s worth a thought! – JOHN.