The largest Christmas toy appeal in the UK, Mission Christmas, is an annual campaign run by Cash for Kids and supported by Gem Radio ensuring thousands of children receive gifts at Christmas…
It’s Mission Christmas for Gem Radio as hosts Jo and Sparky appeal to listeners and locals to buy one extra gift to help thousands of disadvantaged children in the East Midlands.
In 2020 Mission Christmas collected over £12.7m in gifts and cash donations, which was used to make sure that 254,352 children and young people had presents to open on Christmas Day.
Giving Santa a helping hand, this led to 6,364 recipients in the East Midlands. This year, the economic climate is pushing more and more families into poverty which is not helped by the end of the Universal Credit top-up and furlough. As a result, the charity is expecting record levels of requests for help this year.
Sparky explains: “Every child should feel the excitement of waking up to presents on Christmas morning, however we know for some families that after a tough year they are struggling to even get by day to day. That’s why we want to help out Santa by making sure that even more young people in our area can be given some Christmas cheer this year.
“People in our community have always been so amazingly generous when it comes to Mission Christmas, and so if you can, please just buy one extra gift this year and we’ll make sure that it goes to a child who truly deserves it.”
Supporters of the campaign can take their gifts to a number of drop-off points, including local B&M, Bensons for Beds and Wickes stores.
This year there will also be a new facility for supporters to buy a gift online which will be delivered directly to the purchaser’s nearest Mission HQ for no delivery fee.
Cash for Kids works with thousands of grass-root organisations across the UK who support disadvantaged children. Throughout the Mission Christmas campaign, these organisations along with social workers, head teachers and the emergency services nominate families in crisis to be supported by the appeal.
For further details, including information on how to get involved or make a donation, you can visit the Gem Radio or Cash for Kids website.
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