What began as one man donating £20 has snowballed into an incredible show of community spirit
Steve Pennycad (left) and David Jenkinson, joint owners of Don Dixon’s Butcher in Holderness Road, Hull(Image: Sofie Jackson for Hull Live)
A butcher’s shop is able to give away more than £2,800 worth of meat this year thanks to a flurry of generous donations from customers and businesses. Throughout the festive season, Don Dixon’s Butcher have been giving out hampers to pensioners.
Steve Pennycad and David Jenkinson are the joint owners of the butcher in Holderness Road, having taken it over from Don Dixon when he retired. The charity appeal began last year, when a customer left £20 and asked for it to be paid forward to help someone in need at Christmas.
After that, word got out and other customers contributed a grand total of £1,000. Much to Steve and David’s surprise, this year they received even more donations, with the amount currently standing at an impressive £2,800.
Steve told Hull Daily Mail: “This year, we weren’t even going to carry it on and we thought that was it. But people have just come in and said, ‘There you go, there is some money for your pensioner’s fund.'”
Among the businesses who have donated are Jobe’s Cycles, Penguin Nursery, and Inspire Plumbing. Ex-boxer Peter Waudby also made a generous donation, Steve said.
An exterior shot of Don Dixon Family Butcher in Holderness Road, Hull(Image: Sofie Jackson for Hull Live)
He added: “We have still got about £400 of meat to give away, so we’ve given away £2,400 worth. We will be doing that before Christmas and it’s just great because it helps everybody and we are keeping it all local.
“It is so nice to see everyone so grateful for it. With this, I post everything on Facebook and the full community come together and everyone thinks it is so nice what we are doing, but without their help we wouldn’t be able to do it.”
Steve said there are not as many shops as there used to be on Holderness Road, but there is still a “good community atmosphere”. He added that £1,000 in donations had been “beyond our wildest dreams”, so to go even further has been “fantastic”.
Behind the counter are numerous thank you cards and letters from pensioners who have received the packages. Steve said it feels nice to be trusted by the community to donate the food where it is needed.
Steve added: “As soon as we get to January, we will be starting it again and taking donations. It is so nice to help people out. People can give 50p and it all adds up.”