Kind-hearted Rea Davidson has spent her time in lockdown making sure that her community is not going hungry, or short of a toy to play with!
Being self-employed, she was left with nothing to do when restrictions first went into place almost a year ago. So, to fill her time, she set up a stand of essentials in her front garden.
People were visiting the table to pick up any food or toiletry items they needed as well as making donations of things too.
Ms Davidson said: “I didn’t want anybody to feel that they were poor or that there was something wrong with asking for help or just taking what they needed.
“I can’t bear the thought of anyone going hungry, especially families and children.”
Within two weeks of setting up the stall, Ms Davidson was overwhelmed with donations and had eight tables in her front garden at her home in Watlington, Norfolk.
Ms Davidson later became known by the children in the village as “the toy lady”.
She said: “Children wanted to go out for a walk because they were going to see the lady with the toys.”
Kayleigh Sidney, 28 said: “I donated food and nappies to the stall when my online shop gave me substitutes that I could not return. Ms Davidson was lovely and managed to get me the right size nappies I needed.
“It’s nice to know that people like this are in our community and that they’re understanding and not judgemental.”
Ms Davidson has received a letter of recognition from the Lord-Lieutenant of Norfolk thanking her for her efforts.
She said: “I thought I would have to wait until I was 100 to get anything from The Queen!
“This is a village thing it’s not just me, but it is humbling, and I am very proud.”
Now that it’s winter, Ms Davidson is providing an order and collect service. She posts what items she has on village Facebook groups and encourages people to privately message her if they need anything.
She also has a private Facebook group for the stall which the village community can join to see what the stall has and also ask what to donate.
Ms Davidson is determined to carry on providing this service to her local community until restrictions are lifted. She aims to keep going until people have started to recover both physically and financially.
