Christmas Present Appeal in conjunction with Save the Children
You may recall that last year, the Welsh Sports Association (WSA) supported a Christmas Present Appeal in conjunction with local volunteers and Save the Children. Well, the WSA have again teamed up with local volunteers and Save the Children to help with their 2023 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 WSA are again willing to coordinate this initiative for your team members, who would like to help out this Christmas.
Below is an email from the organiser of the Christmas Present Appeal and your support would be greatly appreciated.
It’s that time of year again, the Christmas Present Appeal is back!! As you’re likely aware, we have arranged the Christmas Present Appeal with the help of Save the Children for the last 5 years. The purpose of the appeal is to ensure children less fortunate than us have a present to open on Christmas morning.
When we first started the appeal, you came together to help over 60 children. Last year you managed to help over 200 children!!! I’d like to take this opportunity to offer my heartfelt thanks and to pass on the thanks of the children, families and schools to those who have contributed over the years. So many of you go above and beyond, and without you this simply wouldn’t be possible.
Save the Children have been overwhelmed with your generosity over the years and they wanted me to emphasise the positive impact this has had on local communities. Whilst Christmas is a magical time of year for so many, it comes with immense pressure for those living in poverty who are already torn between putting the heating on or putting food on the table.
Whilst we were able to support over 200 children last year, there are still so many we didn’t manage to support. As such, we hope we can exceed the numbers that we did last year. Please feel free to share this with friends, family and colleagues and include them in your response. You will then be tasked with collecting the gifts from your group and dropping them off to me in Cardiff.
As a brief reminder, 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 I’m then provided with the age and gender of the child and brief details of their family unit. I then distribute these anonymised details to the volunteers who 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 are then placed into a gift bag (unwrapped). The gift bag 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.
Over the next few days, Save the Children will send me the list referred to above. If you would like to be a part of this project, simply email Carys Davies at the WSA ([email protected]) with your full name and the number of children you would like to be allocated and they will pass me your details.
Please only respond if you will be able to drop the gift bag off at the WSA offices by Monday 4th December. Failure to do so may leave your allocated child without a gift. Myself, some lovely volunteers and Save the Children will then help to distribute the gift bags before the schools break up for Christmas.
Once I have received the list from Save the Children, I will send you a private email. The email will state the age and sex of the allocated child so that you can tailor the gift bag for that child.
The WSA would be very grateful for your support with this important initiative, so if you or your team members would like to contribute, please contact Carys as explained above.
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