Blog

Vantastic News!

Regular readers will know of our recent transport issues. We haven’t been able to collect donations since our van was involved in an accident in November and our volunteers have had to use their own transport to deliver urgent food parcels.

I am delighted to update you that we now have a van! It’s a bit larger than our previous van and meets all our needs. So a huge shout out to Castle Cavendish for their generous contribution towards the van because without it, the insurance pay out was insufficient to replace our desperately needed transport.

So look out for us in the Basford area and give our driver a wave.

We’re Opening!

Were delighted to confirm our charity shop will re open on 12 April. Thank you to all our supporters who have been buying stock through our Ebay account and we look forward to seeing you face to face soon.

Also, thank you to our supporters who are keeping goods to donate but please email or phone us to arrange a mutually suitable time to drop off your donations, as we can’t accept all in a day!

Give a Little Love Success

Following on from last week’s blog post I’m delighted to confirm that Mesopotamia raised over £1000 from our eBay auction. All of this money will go directly into our food bank to support local people in need.

Give a little love

You may recall, a month ago, we told you abut our Ebay auction. I’m happy to update you that, with four days to go, we believe that we are on track to raise our target of £1000.

We have had a lot of interest in many of the lots with £150 being our current highest bid for a mulberry handbag. But if your budget is modest please be assured we have many bids around £1.99.

We are promoting items with our new Twitter account. Please click on the above link to see details of this and how you can access our auction.

No Delivery this week

We are very sorry to have to cancel this Saturday’s food delivery (6th February) but we have had a confirmed case of COVID amongst the volunteers. All members of our team have been tested and fortunately, only one person from the team has tested positive but the law states that we all need to self isolate for ten days.

Deliveries will resume on Saturday 13th February.

Food parcels

We included the following letter in 50+ of our Christmas deliveries but are sharing in our blog as we received a couple of enquiries from people we had supported.

2020 was a tough year. We are in hope that 2021 will be much better.

We have done everything we can to get food for you, and we are hopeful of being able to do so again soon. But after the parcel of food, you will receive on Saturday 9th January 2021 we cannot guarantee being able to repeat that yet.

We are already looking at new arrangements to get support and we are always thinking of alternative ways to access food and funds.

Sooner rather than later, we aim to be doing more of what we do. For now, here are some contact details of places that might be able to help you. Mention that you have been getting support from Mesopotamia when you get in touch.

Nottingham City Council Customer Hub 0115 9155555

Nottingham County Council 0115 854 6000

Derby council 01332 293111

We are beyond sorry that this is how things are. And we are as confident as we can be that they will change, and you will hear from us again.

Ebay Auction

Many of our supporters have told us they are missing their charity shop fix and equally we are missing our customers! And of course, without this important income stream, we are struggling to help all those in need in our area.

So we have good news. We have set up an Ebay account. It’s early days but please follow our sellers account at fundraising57

Vanless!!

You may have heard that our previous van was involved in an accident and we still have not been able to replace it. Even once we have found a new van the current Covid rules mean that we would not be able to come out to collect. We thank you for thinking of us and ask, if you are in a position to hold on to your goods until the present conditions have relaxed please do so.

Without your precious donations we are unable to raise the funds needed to continue our work and feed those who are in need in Nottingham.

Please remember to subscribe to our website for regular updates.

How lockdown affects Mesopotamia

Unfortunately we have had to temporarily close the doors to our charity shop as we are not classed as essential. We are however still running both the foodbank and distributing essentials on an emergency basis.

If you are in need of support and think we can help, please contact us via our online referral form. Alternatively you can call us on 0115 9780444 and leave a message on our answer machine.

Different ways that you can still help Mesopotamia

• Donate food and toiletries at Sainsburys on Perry Road (a one minute walk from our shop). We have a collection box just after the tills.
• Donate cash. Working alongside FareShare we are able to do a lot with very little, so ever pound makes a difference.
• For clothing, bric a brac and larger items, if possible, please hang on to them for when we are in a position to take them off your hands.