Having taken this year’s festive appeal online, we have been extremely touched by the heart-warming response from community members who have come forward to help ensure our residents get a present this Christmas.
Special gratitude goes out to local charity SEWA Day which, thanks to a generous donation they received, has kindly managed to donate an incredible 100 gift-filled shoe-boxes for residents living at our hostel in Nottingham city centre to enjoy this Christmas. The thoughtful gift contributions ranged from toiletry sets to food and sweets.
Presents were arranged by Beckie King and Sarah Rogers, and sportingly delivered on Saturday 12 December by Blood Bikes volunteer driver Stephen Rose, who was pleased to be assigned this delivery by East Midlands Freewheelers as he is also a Tenancy Support Officer at Nottinghamshire YMCA!
East Midlands Freewheelers is a local service that usually delivers everything from surgical instruments to blood samples across the region, and are now putting their skills to helping ensure every vulnerable person in YMCA’s care receives a special gift this festive season.
Hetvi, SEWA Day Lead Coordinator in Nottingham who did a fantastic job of collecting and organising these donations, said: “We wanted to spread some joy this Christmas and true happiness is all about giving.”
The gifts will ensure every resident living at our city centre hostel receives a present to open on Christmas morning, and we could not be more grateful to Hetvi, Stephen and their phenomenal team of community supporters for making this happen.
Thanks to the deeply appreciated support of our community members, we have also raised £280 via our website campaign so far, which will help cover Christmas presents for residents living in our supported housing across greater Nottinghamshire.
The festive spirit is really catching on, and it is nice to residents at our Mansfield and Worksop supported housing decking the halls by putting up the hostels’ Christmas trees this week.
If you know anyone who would like to sponsor a Christmas gift this winter, please direct them to: https://www.nottsymca.com/donate/