Highlighting the needy with Anthony Bernard.

The Food Bank is only one of many essential volunteer groups in town. Food is fundamental to life, but so are warmth, clothing and somewhere to live. After that come physical and mental health and the chance for children to grow up into adulthood. The suppression of drugs, alcohol and abusive behaviour, which harm both victims and perpetrators, is a further factor in our modern world. Abuses of social media and cyber crime can be added to an ever growing list of problems.

What "we, the people" do for our fellow men and companions on this earth, giving others our time and donations, are at the heart of society. "The government" is only a structure that democracy has created, and can become a scapegoat excusing us from doing anything ourselves.

The RNLI is an example. It declines government support in order to retain its independence to respond as necessary. Which politicians know more than fishermen and boating people about problems in local conditions? The same is true for many local and family issues. Government support may have money, but it does not contribute easily and has only a loose idea of what is really needed.

The Exmouth Food Bank is an example, totally dependent on people volunteering and donating ; no payments go to anyone, everything goes to the needy. Other organisations, such as Trussell Trust and Fare Share do a great job, but depend on commercial deals with supermarkets which can skew or limit the availability of supplies.

Mental health, boosting people's self confidence and assurance, are also vital areas in which volunteers play an amazing role through a multitude of organizations. Besides which "we, the people" can radiate friendship and support with whomever we meet in our everyday dealings. Being greeted with a friendly nod or grin can go a long way to improving someone's well being; engaging in conversation raises this to another level, even in supermarket queues and check-out! At home there is always the phone.

Three rough sleepers came into Open Door many years ago. A very big man covered in tattoos, his tall girl friend and an older bearded man. They were camping in a doorway in town and seemed threatening to anyone not knowing them, but were actually gentle and articulate. The big man and his girl obviously had circus background, because when they needed money they would perform juggling acts for people to toss coins into a hat. The full story was a revelation. The older man was dying of cancer and the others were taking him on a last tour to visit all the places he had been and the people he had met during a long nomadic life, to see or meet them one last time.

We all jump to conclusions quickly about the people we see in the street and are often wrong. Hair colour and tattoos matter less than skin colour, orientation or disability, which don't matter anyway. We should all of us have care and compassion for everyone, regardless. That is what the angels showed by proclaiming Jesus' birth to Homeless Palestinians minding Jewish sheep 2,000 years ago, now represented by the fairy at the top of many Christmas trees.

All year round everyone should be carriers of the Glad Tidings of Great Joy shared at Christmas. There are more groups looking for helpers or Christmas fairies now than space to list them!