Okehampton Community Kitchen is appealing to residents to donate towards its Community Christmas initiative to help those struggling over the festive period.

The kitchen is aiming to raise £500 to cover the cost of the Ockment Centre hall where three days of activities, which will include a late breakfast buffet, a Christmas carol sing-along and children’s arts and crafts, are set to take place to provide support to people in need and reduce loneliness.

Rebecca Green, who runs the community kitchen, said: ‘The idea is basically a community Christmas for anybody who wants to come along. They don’t have to have a specific reason. It’s just for anybody in the community who wants to be with other people at Christmas.

‘It’s something I’ve always wanted to do because there’s so many reasons why people struggle. It’s not just people living on their own. You don’t have to live on your own to be lonely. It might be that someone with a young child who is on their own and maybe the child would benefit from being with other kids at Christmas. It could be elderly people.

‘And there’s loads of different dimensions to it. You’ve got people that are stuck in temporary housing and can’t put up decorations or cook Christmas lunch. We’ve got Ukrainian families over here and other lots of people who don’t have relatives in the UK who might want to come along and join in and be with the community for Christmas.’

The kitchen has already applied for a grant from Okehampton United Charities and Okehampton Town Councillor Tony Leech, who is a trustee of the Ockment Centre, has also lent his support to the initiative.

He said: ‘This opportunity came up. The Ockment Centre office is closed for that period, but I’m a trustee so I can gain access. I said, if we can’t get staff to staff it, I’ll do it. As simple as that.

‘People can come along and hopefully, not sit at home lonely, which a lot of people do, unfortunately. Christmas isn’t always a season of goodwill and cheer for a great deal of people and I think this year could be worse with the cost-of-living crisis. So if we can get a smile from a few people, we should do it.’

The Okehampton Community Kitchen has announced it will also be organising the reverse advent scheme for this Christmas following last year’s success and also hopes to be able to offer a warm space for those struggling to heat their home as energy bills rise.

Anyone wishing to donate can visit the Go Fund Me page at www.gofundme.com/f/okehampton-community-kitchen-winter-projects or contact Rebecca on 07806 770926 for more information.