THIS year’s Giving Tree Appeal has been launched to offer you the chance to make a local child smile this Christmas, writes Sally Bryant.
For more than 15 years, generous Wokingham people have dug deep to make sure less fortunate youngsters stay on Santa’s list.
The idea is simple, but it sparkles with the true spirit of the season.
You choose a tag from one of the many Giving Trees across the borough, buy the gift on the tag and return it (unwrapped) to the tree.
Big-hearted volunteers then go to work to get the presents to local charities, which make sure they go to children whose stockings might otherwise have been empty on Christmas morning.
Last year, more than 2,000 tags were collected and hopes are high Wokingham folk will be even more generous this time around.
Gill Mckernan, from Barnardo’s High Close School, organises the appeal with a team of volunteers, “especially the kind staff at Transform Housing”. They were joined by representatives of the benefiting charities and some of the businesses hosting trees at Tesco in Wokingham on Sunday to launch the 2016 appeal.
Mrs Mckernan said: “Last year was fantastic, with over 2,000 tags taken from the trees, but I have a feeling that this year could exceed that number. The appeal just gets bigger and bigger each year, with more venues wanting to host a tree.
“No child who has asked for a gift through the Giving Tree will go without this Christmas.
“Supporting the Giving Tree does not mean spending a fortune. Any present will put a smile on the face of a child at Christmas. All shoppers need to do is choose a tag, buy the gift suggested and return it, unwrapped to the place where they collected the tag.
“I would like to say a huge thank you to PricewaterhouseCoopers, who have printed the tags and posters again this year, as well as supporting the appeal by buying lots of gifts.
“Also to Helen Duncan, Community Champion for Tesco for hosting the launch and to all the businesses for hosting the trees”.
Also at the launch was Wokingham town mayor Cllr Gwynneth Hewetson, who remembers the first Giving Tree and has watched the appeal bring more and more Christmas cheer every year.
She told The Wokingham Paper: “I am delighted to be here, it is a wonderful initiative.
“I think Christmas has lost some of its religious connotations, so if we can change that into giving then we have done something good, haven’t we?”
If you can buy an extra gift to make someone else’s Christmas, find a tree near you and send it with love.
Where you can find a Giving Tree
- Tesco – Wokingham
- Tesco – Warfield
- Tesco – Martins Heron
- Dell – Bracknell
- Wokingham Borough Council
- Newbury Building Society – Wokingham
- Zappas – Bean Oak Wokingham
- Zappas – Peach Street Wokingham
- Zappas – Crowthorne
- Zappas – Twyford
- Zappas – Fleet
- Nirvana Spa/Pulse8 – Wokingham
- Premier Research – Wokingham
- RSA Security – Bracknell
- YOH Solutions- Winnersh Triangle
- PricewaterhouseCooper – Reading
- Wokingham Library
- CenturyLink – Winnersh Triangle
- Artizian – Catering Services Hurst
- Morrisons Wokingham
The charities The Giving Tree helps
- Barnardos – Various Projects including Young Carers
- Barnardos Fostering and Adoption Project
- Dingley’s Promise – Early Years Specialists
- Transform Housing and Support
- Home Start
- Women’s Refuge – Berkshire Women’s Aid
- ASD Family Help
- Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice
- Wokingham Crossroads Young Carers Project
- Look Ahead Care and Support
- Children With Special Needs Foundation
- Sebastian’s Action Trust
