A helping hand at Christmas

In addition to the Partnership’s Christmas charity donations, staff across our offices have led the charge to help out our communities this festive season.

At the start of the month two small teams to volunteered for FareShare at the Tesco Winter Food Collection 2023. They were responsible for directing the attention of customers to the FareShare shopping list as they entered the store to encourage them to add an item or two to their usual shop and bringing them to the collection point. Over the course of their shifts, eight trolleys were filled which will help alleviate the challenges faced by those in our local community who facing food insecurity.

On Friday 8 December a small group from Stace spent the day helping at the Chiltern Toy Bank, a charity that has been working in the Chesham and Amersham area for over eight years. They collect donations of pre-loved toys, or generously donated new toys and redistribute them to families who need extra support at Christmas time. This year the Toy Bank received requests from 222 families, most of which had multiple children so in total c.480 children received a large sack of presents. As a charity they rely heavily on volunteers who give up their time to become “Toy Bank Elves” to help collect, clean, sort, pick, pack and deliver gifts to families in time for Christmas.

Our Epping office partnered with the Great Dunmow Roundtable to collect long life food items for local foodbanks (Uttlesford and Harlow). We have also supported the Salvation Army’s Christmas Appeal, which provides gifts to underprivileged children by collecting new, unwrapped toys for children of all ages. The foodbanks are facing increased demand for their services and we are proud to be help towards the collection of tons of food and hundreds of presents all of which will have a meaningful impact on our community.

In London we supported the East London Business Alliance (ELBA) & BIG Alliance Toy Appeal 2023. Our staff bought toys which have now been distributed to children that, because of their circumstances, may not receive a  toy at the end of the year.

The Birmingham team have supported Crisis who are running ‘Virtual Stockings’ to support someone start their life beyond homelessness this Christmas. The virtual Crisis Christmas Stockings are made up of real examples of items or services Crisis provide (such as entertainment, toiletries or bedding) – how the charity helps someone depends on their individual needs and situation.