Christmas can be a difficult time for people in the community who are in poverty or need but there are people who are giving up their time to help.
 

Volunteers are working over the festive period to make sure people do not go without food and even to help people who have a bit too much to drink on nights out.
 

Sutton Foodbank, which is based  gives food to people in crisis, gets double the usual number of people coming to it over the two weeks around Christmas and volunteers work extra shifts.
 

Mark Tomlinson, who leads the Foodbank project in Sutton, said: "In addition to our usual sessions on Monday and Friday we've got an extra session on Christmas Eve. We also run a café where we give a hot meal to people and we're doing a Christmas lunch."
 

Mr Tomlinson said over the two week period over Christmas they will feed as many people as they usually do in a month.
 

He added: "We are thankful to schools and churches and recently to customers of Tesco for generous donations of food to the Foodbank. We have taken in over 4 tonnes of food - this will last for approximately 6 months on current levels of demand."
 

Mr Tomlinson also co-ordinates Sutton's Street pastors - a team who go out into the town centre at night and help people who become vulnerable after drinking - and they will be out on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve as well as their usual Friday and Saturday shifts.
 

According to Derek Terrell, volunteer brokerage manager at Volunteer Centre Sutton, the borough is well-served by people willing to give up their time and volunteer.
 

He said: "In general we see an increase in people needing the services volunteers provide but you do see a downturn in the number of people who to volunteer.
 

"We're always looking for volunteers and we're also always looking for volunteering opportunities where people can help out. It's a vibrant volunteering family in Sutton but it's always good to have more."