Now in its fifth year, we are running our CHS Shoe Box Appeal again this Christmas to ensure all the young people living in our supported housing services will have a gift to open this Christmas. In previous years sadly we had at least one resident who wouldn't have received a Christmas gift had it not been for the incredible generosity of the Cambridgeshire community - that is the difference our Shoe Box Appeal makes.

This year, with the cost of living crisis hitting many, we are expecting things to be even tougher for our young people and after the past two years of Covid we want to make sure all our residents have a Christmas to remember.

We understand that not everyone is able to donate a Shoe Box but may be keen to help so any donations we receive on this JustGiving page will be used to make up boxes on your behalf.

About our services

In addition to the four services in we run Cambridge, Ely and Wisbech that provide accommodation and support to vulnerable young 16 -24-year olds who are either homeless or at risk of homelessness, we also run three services in Cambridge that support women with mental health needs, young parents and their children and also people with learning disabilities and autism, all who are vulnerable and at risk of homelessness.

In previous years, CHS staff and supporters have spent the night sleeping out in Cambridge city centre to raise valuable funds for the CHS Support Fund. The aim of the CHS Support Fund is to provide additional support for the residents in our services to cover the cost of essentials like emergency food supplies and dental treatment, travel expenses and supplies for college, and glasses and clothing needed for work. Our Shoe Box Appeal gives our supporters the opportunity to directly donate gifts to our residents.

Andrew Church, CHS Group’s Director of Community said: “We’re so excited to be launching our annual Shoebox Appeal, and are looking forward to making it bigger and better than ever before on its fifth anniversary. Since the very beginning in 2018, we’ve had tremendous support from members of the community and local organisations and we hope that this year will bring much of the same.

Against the backdrop of the cost of living crisis, helping the Cambridgeshire community has been a top priority of ours and giving support to people in need at Christmas time drives our ambition to build on the success of the Appeal. Whether you’re able to give a shoebox filled with goodies, individual items to go towards a filled shoebox, a donation to our JustGiving page, or even simply an empty shoebox or giftbag for us to fill, it all makes a huge difference."