Since 2017 our charity has been supporting some of the most vulnerable children in our community with a Christmas Toy Collection project. For the first two years we partnered with the Salvation Army, however from this year onward we are solely working on this project to directly reach our beneficiaries. We have a new partnership with In Kind Direct and are now able to purchase better quality gifts for children at a discounted rate as we are a registered charity. We are therefore supporting just our referrals and families who have children with disabilities and life limiting conditions. We receive referrals from the Enfield Council Early Intervention Support Service. We also support families that we know through our charitable work.
We aim to give children, who are often hospitalized this time of year, the best Christmas they can have, and receive the best toys they could wish for, just like any other child.
The families we receive referrals for are some of the most vulnerable within an area of deprivation. Their families are hit with poverty due to their circumstances, and not only are they battling to survive each day they have the added worry of caring for a seriously disabled child.
The Borough we support was ranked in 2015 as the 12th most deprived borough in London, and is the 64th most deprived Local Authority in England overall. The majority of our families who we receive referrals for are living in the Eastern side of Enfield which is the most deprived part of our borough.
Disabled children and their families are worse off financially and have markedly poorer standards of living then those families who do not live with disability. Expenditure is higher but opportunities for earning through paid employment are reduced, particularly for mothers. Many families are in debt and live in unsuitable housing. " - Disabled Children Second Edition a Legal Handbook , Steve Broach, Luke Clements and Janet Reed.
We estimate that this year we will receive around 35 referrals for families and within those families there are over 100 children. We aim to give toys to siblings too, even including teenagers as they tend to miss out on the things they need due to the severe stress families are under. We aim to relieve this stress for them and give what ever we can.
Due to the nature of this project and the children we support we can not share real life photos however we can share some of the feedback we received over the past few years from our support ...
Zebras toy support has been a life line to us, without it we would not have been able to give our children any kind of Christmas ...
We were overwhelmed with the toys we received, we can not thank everyone enough for their help ...
So how does the project work?
The money collected from your kind donations is 100% spent on purchasing toys. Although we are a very small charity with limited funds we have already made a start in purchasing toys. Here are some of the things the money you donate can buy:
This lovely wooden fire station cost the charity just £4.20 with our partnership with In Kind Direct where we purchase the toys from. So for just a £5 donation, you could buy this toy for a child.
Everyone loves a rocking horse, and just look at this adorable one, for the charity it costs just £6.00, imagine the joy this will bring and how a little child's face will light up on Christmas morning.
Look at this amazing super jumbo talking Dinosaur! It stands at a whooping 90cm tall and will be finding a new owner at Christmas and cost £10.
When we have received all the donations we can we will purchase all the toys needed and then begin to sort them ready for delivery.
From October onward we start organising deliveries as there is a great deal of work to do and families to deliver to, we need to get a head start!
The families who receive the toys are always so grateful. Last year one of our delivery drivers reported that a Father who accepted the toys from us was over whelmed and had a tear in his eye as he shook the drivers hand and simply said " Thankyou" ...
Aside from the general deliveries the charities founders take time away from their own commitments with their disabled son to deliver toys to children who request a home visit from Santa and Mrs Christmas. This can be very emotional for the families as they witness their children's expressions as they see Santa actually visiting their house. These children are often in hospital when Christmas arrives therefore visits take place often in November and early December. The children are often too ill to visit Santa at the charities relaxed Santa visit that takes place in December.
As you can see we may be a very small charity but we are making a huge impact to the many families we support.
Your kind donation will be making a real difference and helping to make a child's dreams come true . We believe no child should miss out on the joys of Christmas.
The charity also runs a toy collection for businesses to gather donations. All toys donated must be brand new due to cross infection to the children who are very ill.
If you would like to donate a brand new toy instead, of making a donation or run a toy collection for us please do get in touch!
Please do contact the charity if you wish to support at Toy Donations
* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.
