Our Christmas appeal deadline may have passed but we’ve been able to ensure many children receive gifts and many families can enjoy Christmas knowing they have presents for their loved ones, taking away some of the stresses and strains that come with the current climate and challenging times people currently face.

We would like to thank each and every person who has donated to us and our appeal, special thanks going to Ben Barbanel and everyone at OakNorth Bank in collaboration with Fluidly for donating £1000 to our appeal, Richy Aldred at Opayo and Elavon who donated the presents collected with their Newcastle office and Smyths Toys Superstores in Wallsend for adding further presents to our appeal. Every present donated, every pound donated has gone into making Christmas special for over 200 children and families who may otherwise not have had presents without the generosity of you all.

To see the work that goes into organising this is incredible, all ran by volunteers who give up countless hours all year round with the work they do, which often goes unnoticed. To see first-hand, the work that volunteers do to ensure that children receive presents and the administration work that goes into things really is incredible and makes us realise how worthwhile our appeal is.

From our appeal we’ve been able to donate over 200 presents to help make sure that no child goes without a present this Christmas in the North East. To see how the admin is done, the logistics in getting these presents out as well as hearing how they are distributed in such a way that parents can also get involved really does make our appeal worthwhile.

We are fortunate to be able to do these appeals, but we couldn’t do them without the donations and generosity from everyone that has donated a present or donated to our fundraising to buy presents. We thank each and every person who has been involved with this and made this possible.