WSA supporting with the 2022 Christmas Gift Appeal

WSA supporting with the 2022 Christmas Gift Appeal

The Welsh Sports Association (WSA) have teamed up with local volunteers and Save the Children to help with their 2022 Christmas Present Appeal.

We understand that the cost-of-living crisis is impacting everybody within our sector. However, as we feel the effects, those less fortunate than us will inevitably feel them even more. Christmas is a lovely time of year, but along with this comes immense pressure for mothers, fathers and guardians living in poverty.

The purpose of the Christmas Gift Appeal is to ensure children have a present to open on Christmas morning and, unfortunately, the number of children living in poverty has increased. As such, the 2022 Christmas Gift Appeal hopes to exceed the numbers that have been achieved in recent years and the WSA, with its network of members, is critical to this.

We are hoping that each NGB or partner will have a coordinator that can galvanise interest and collect the presents within their organisation, before dropping them off to the WSA offices, Floor 3, Sport Wales National Centre.

Save the Children (through their close connections with local schools) identify the families and children most in need in the local community. The details are anonymised, and local coordinator Phil Draper is provided with the age and gender of the child and brief details of their family unit. Phil will distribute these anonymised details to the NGB or partner coordinator who passes this on to the volunteers to go out and buy the items that make up the gift bag.

The gift bag consists of three core items:

1. Something warm (e.g., blanket, hat, gloves, fluffy socks)
2. A selection box of chocolates
3. A toy. (In addition to this you can add a book.)

The gifts should be placed into a gift bag unwrapped. This should be manageable with a budget of £20.

For those who want to spend slightly more, we would please ask you to volunteer to support more than one child rather than going over budget. This helps to ensure the gifts received are of an equal value.

If you would like to be a part of this initiative, please email [email protected]

Please only respond if you will be able to drop the gift bag off to the WSA Offices, Floor 3, Sport Wales National Centre by Monday 5th December. Failure to do so may leave your allocated child without a gift. Phil and Save the Children will then help to distribute the gift bags before the schools break up for Christmas!

Once the list has been received from Save the Children, Phil will send you a private email with allocations for your volunteers. The email will state the age and sex of the allocated child so that you can tailor the gift bag for that child.

We understand that this is an incredibly challenging time for everyone, so your support and generosity in helping those less fortunate would be massively appreciated!