WOKINGHAM borough residents have donated £85,000 worth of presents to a children’s charity.
As the festive season rolled around, First Days Children’s Charity, SHARE Wokingham and Wokingham Foodbank teamed up to make sure that everybody can have a merry Christmas this year.
The three charities launched a borough-wide appeal to help distribute Christmas stockings and festive food hampers to families in need.
And as the big day draws closer, the charities say that while they have been busier than ever, they’ve received an overwhelming amount of support from the community.
“It’s been incredible,” said Emma Cantrell, founder of First Days. “We’ve had a huge number of toy donations totalling £85,000 and a massive amount of support, but also a significant amount of need.”
The charity has been working to deliver Christmas stockings to children across Berkshire and beyond.
According to Ms Cantrell, its volunteers have distributed over 12,000 gifts and toys.
“We’ve had loads of amazing volunteers who have come in and dropped off stockings and presents,” she said.
“And we also held an event with SHARE where we invited parents to come in and choose gifts for their kids.
“We’re delivering that Christmas experience to children, which they should never miss out on.”
Some of First Days’ Christmas stockings have also been accompanied by a parcel from Wokingham Foodbank and SHARE, who have been delivering hampers full of festive treats.
“We’ve put together around 240 food parcels for people in Wokingham borough,” Annette Medhurst, manager of Wokingham Foodbank, explained.
“It’s been really nice to work with other organisations because we’ve all been able to reach parts of the community that we normally wouldn’t.”
And Claire Revie, a SHARE Wokingham volunteer, said the joint project has been a huge learning curve for them all.
“If we do this next year, we plan to adjust it so that we can access more people in a faster turnaround to maximise the support we give,” she said.
Looking back on the project, all three women said they are grateful for their volunteers.
“They have worked relentlessly,” Ms Medhurst said. “We’ve got people coming in and out seven days a week to help us cope with the demand which is amazing.”
However, the team say they are also devastated by how much need there is in Wokingham borough, with the food bank seeing demand double compared to December last year.
“I think the real message from all of us is that we are so saddened by the number of people who’ve told us they never needed support from a charity before,” Ms Cantrell said.
“I think it’s a direct result of everything that has happened this year — people are really struggling.” This was echoed by Ms Revie, who says 2020 has been an “eye-opener”.
“It’s made us realise the importance of things,” she said. “Before, I was worried about getting everybody nice presents, but basic human needs are what people are after.
“We’re working with people who don’t have enough money for gas and electricity — people who just want somewhere dry and warm to live and food on the table.”
Anybody in need of help with food over Christmas can call Citizens Advice Wokingham, which has emergency food parcels, on 0300 330 1189.
