DENGIE residents are pulling together to support those less fortunate as we head towards Christmas.

A programme, where families donate food items to be turned into advent calendars and distributed out to families in need, is being run in Burnham and Southminster.

It was set up by Burnham resident, Emma Johnson.

Each day in December you put an item of non-perishable food into your own home-made advent calendar.

That calendar, or shoe box, is then donated to food banks to help those who need it most.

Emma contacted Dengie Children Centre about the reverse advent calendar idea, and they are helping to run the project.

Explaining her idea, Emma said: “I heard about it happening in America. They tend to do this sort of stuff between Thanksgiving and Christmas, helping out at food banks or soup kitchens.

“It all came together last year as my husband and I had just had our son and wanted to start a new family tradition to show there was more to Christmas than just giving and receiving presents.”

Originally, Emma had planned for the idea to be just us her family, but word soon got out and captured the imagination.

Emma added: “The response last year was fantastic. The support was overwhelming.

“We have just kicked off this year’s collection and it is already feeling like a much bigger collection than last year.

“The collection seems to be spreading across the area from Southminster to St Lawrence. We have had lots of families encouraging their children to get involved this year which is exaclty why I started the collection, it’s been amazing to see young people getting involved and thinking of others.”

Donations can be made to the Dengie Children’s Centre, based in Ormiston Rivers Academy, Burnham, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; to Forever Ink, in Station Road, Burnham, on Fridays and Saturdays; and to Christchurch URC, in North Street, Southminster, on Wednesdays between 10am and noon.