1,322 children and young people received gifts and over 400 families received hampers through our Christmas Appeal 2021.

That would not have been possible without the individuals who donated gifts, the schools, therapists and social workers who nominated families and the 90 volunteers who gifted a combined total of 350 hours to make this happen.

Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of this year’s appeal:

Lane Line and Sleigh Belles

Basildon supporter, Lane, has supported our Christmas Appeal for over four years but, this year, she surpassed all of her previous year targets when she delivered 318 hampers and over 200 gifts to our Head Office.

With the support of friends and other volunteers, Kirsty, Stephanie, Sarah, Sasha and Christina, Lane encouraged friends, family and her local community to donate hampers and gifts which were then kindly stored by Lane’s employers Sharpfibre.

210 of the hampers found their way back to Basildon when volunteers from corporate supporter Birketts delivered them to Basildon Lower and Upper Academies and Northlands School.

They were gratefully received by the schools and thanks to Sleigh Belles, a local volunteer group, the hampers also included cards donated and hand-written by volunteers to the families receiving them.

Volunteer Wrappers

The first week of wrapping was supported by a number of enthusiastic individual volunteers. Whilst there were a few familiar faces (mentors, previous Christmas Appeal volunteers), many had never volunteered with us before so were not only introduced to volunteering for our Christmas Appeal but they were introduced to Kids Inspire as a whole.

After the first week of wrapping with individual volunteers, we welcomed a number of corporate supporters to Hargrave House to wrap, pack and deliver gifts to schools across Essex.

The companies that volunteered were: Aegon, Utilize, Morgan Sindall, Bond Residential, LB Insolvency, KEFCO, Baker Labels, Fairview New Homes and Birketts

We asked our volunteers to let us know how volunteering made them feel. Here is what they said:

“Really happy”

“Glad to have helped in some way”

“Proud”

“Part of the Christmas Spirit!”

“Quite humble really, I didn't realise just how difficult some children/families find getting by day to day, not just Christmas.”

As with everything we do, the Christmas Appeal would not be able to function without the support of our volunteers.

Nominations

The nominations for our appeal come from our own therapists, local health and social workers and schools.

The Pastoral Team at one school told us the story of one of their nominated families which truly shows the impact the appeal, and everyone who supports it has on real families.

“Alfie lives with his mum, a single parent, and his four siblings. The family have experienced significant domestic abuse and have had to flee on several occasions. Court orders are in place and it is known that the child and siblings have been present when the abuse has taken place and are direct witnesses.

School have worked to support the children in the family with emotional well-being and have offered support to the parent to ensure that the children are kept safe from significant harm moving forward.

Strong working relationships have been forged by the Pastoral team at school and the gifts from Kids Inspire’s Christmas Appeal will play a part in giving them Christmas they deserve after a difficult few years. Hopefully, a smile will be brought to their faces and they'll know they are in the minds of others at Christmas.”

Thank you to everyone who played a part in our Christmas Appeal 2021. You have helped give families all across Essex, the Christmas they deserve.