Council delivers gifts to vulnerable families
Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council has collected and delivered Christmas gifts for local vulnerable families who were staying in temporary accommodation over the festive period.
The donations were part of an initiative, now in it’s fourth year, to spread a little Christmas sparkle for families who, for varioous reasons, couldn’t be in their own homes this Christmas time.
Around 350 gifts were given out to families in the council’s temporary accommodation sites and 130 other properties. This included gift vouchers for supermarkets and Campus West, and for dining out. There were also hampers with five lucky winners of a Christmas poster competition the children could enter. Donatons of luxury food items such as tubs of chocolates, mince pies and selection boxes were used for specially made up gift bags.
Councillors, council staff, their friends and family and a number of local businesses and organisations made the donations, including: Capsticks LLP, Press and Starkey, HVR Tanner, Colliers, Lovell Partnership Ltd, Brazier Freeth, Baldwin and Bleakley Electrical Services, Herts Sports Partnership, GLL, Birchwood Leisure Centre, Smartier Group Limited, Waitrose, Tesco, WelTech Business Centre, PH Limited, Campus West and Frosts Estate Agents.
The initiative was organised by the council’s Temporary Accommodation team. Gift tags added to a Christmas tree at the main council office in Welwyn Garden City contained individual basic details – age, gender and the name of the accomodation that person was living in. Staff could then take one (or more) tags and buy a gift appropriate to that person, wrapping it up and adding the gift tag back onto it.
Councillor Lynn Chesterman OBE, Executive Member, Housing, said: “We are so pleased to be doing this again and we’ve had some lovely feedback from families.”
“Everyone has the right to a good Christmas, and in an ideal world we would be with our loved ones in familiar surroundings. Hopefully this provided some light at a difficult time, espeically for children. We must also say a big thank you to the local businesses and partner organisations who also made donations – it’s hugely appreciated and we couldn’t make this work as effectively without them.”
Anne, who is living at Hazel Grove House, said that thie initiative was - “…such a lovely thing for you to do, thank you so much.”
Shauna’s boys at Inspira House sent a picture to the council before Christmas with a message - “Hello just to say thank you for the lovely Xmas gifts you gave us …they opened them already as they couldn’t resist and they were so grateful. Merry Xmas."