Council collects Christmas gifts for vulnerable families

The aim was to spread a little Christmas sparkle for residents, including children who, for various reasons, couldn’t be in their own homes at Christmas time, and will have very few of their own possessions around them.

The annual initiative, which was organised by the council’s Temporary Accommodation team, is a collaborative effort and has again been hugely successful. 100 hampers were put together by The RCCG Faith Generations Church, which residents in temporary accommodation were invited to collect from Saturday 13 December, and a further 250 donated gifts were delivered by council officers just before Christmas.

Gifts were donated by council staff, their friends and family, Councillors and St Catherine’s School in Ware and included vouchers for supermarkets, as well as games, toiletries, mince pies, tubs of chocolates, chutneys, selection boxes and craft boxes. Generous donations also came from local businesses and organisations including Morgan Sindall, Press & Starkey, Equans, Capsticks LLP, BSP Partnership, Baldwin and Bleakley, Braiser Freeth, Studio DWG and Dignity Lane Care Ltd.

Councillor Gemma Moore, Executive Member Housing, said:

I’m so pleased that we continued this initiative for a sixth year, and while there can be no substitute for your own home at a time like Christmas, we wanted to take some of the stress out of what must be an extremely daunting and difficult time in unfamiliar surroundings. A huge thank you to everyone who donated: friends, council officers, our amazing local businesses and partner organisations, and the wonderful children and staff at St Catherine’s School. Their collective generosity is what makes this successful year after year.

There was some lovely feedback on the donations, with one resident in temporary accommodation emailing the council to say:

From the bottom of our hearts thank you for our gift basket with all those amazing gifts and treats.