A BURNHAM woman has come up with a scheme to help those in need this Christmas.

Emma Johnson contacted Dengie Children Centre a few months ago with the idea of organising a reverse advent calendar.

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

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

Emma explained the idea behind the scheme: “It’s an American idea originally. They tend to do this sort of stuff between Thanksgiving and Christmas, helping out at foodbanks or soup kitchens.

“Me and my husband have just had a son and we wanted to start a new family tradition to show there was more to Christmas than just giving and receiving presents.

“It was going to just be the three of us at first but word got out and it seemed to capture people’s imaginations.

“The response has been really great. It’s been quite amazing really. We have had the children’s centre get involved. They have been brilliant helping us out, the community have got involved as well. We already have about ten boxes full of donations. The support has been overwhelming.”

Jayne Wenlock, a family practitioner at Burnham and Dengie Children Centre, said: “The idea was instead of opening up a treat on the 24 days leading up to Christmas we give something instead, in the form of non-perishable pantry goods.

“We have had a great response from people so far. They are ringing up and donating stuff all the time. At the centre we have encouraged families to offer something, even if it is just one item. So far we have had a fabulous amount of food coming in.

“The deadline for getting food in is December 19, and the aim is to deliver these foods and parcels to Southminster foodbank on December 21.  I really feel that Emma has created a marvellous thing and we could all do with her inspiration.”