Santa Stork 2014 – a celebration of ‘giving’

Wow, what a day! Today was the ‘giving event’ for the Santa Stork 2014 campaign, a day many of us wont forget in a hurry.

As a result of all your help and support, we passed out gift bags filled to the brim with goodies for 146 children and 56 of their parents – what a result!

The referral sources we work with came and collected the presents they’d requested for the families they support. All the presents were brand new and, in almost all cases, were items that the family or children has specifically requested.

Remember the ten year old we’d mentioned on Facebook who when asked what she’d like said “her own pair of shoes”? Well her, and her two siblings, will find vouchers for Clarks in their bags as well as lots of other lovely treats.

Today was all about providing those special treats that the children really want – after all every child deserves a special treat at Christmas!

The day started early with us packing five big cars with the presents we’d collected and taking them up to the YMCA Sovereign Centre.

We had assistance from some of our regular volunteers, but also from a team from GlaxoSmithKline who were using a charity day to come and help – thanks guys, you were fantastic!

Santa hat – check, Christmas jumper – check, ‘elf toolkit’ (scissors, tape and pen) – check! Get wrapping folks….!

The first collection resulted in a big cheer.

It was the first of many, and our ‘elves’ were on hand to help load cars full of lovely presents!

This pile was for one referral source alone:

And we didn’t forget those hard-working and dedicated referral sources…we had little treats for them too!

None of this was possible without the support we received from so many:

All of our supporters who donated online or went out and bought a present for specific children. You were all so incredibly generous.
The parents at the Earlswood schools who nominated Stripey Stork to be the recipient of their Christmas shoe boxes.
Our friends at Halliwell Marks who were so accommodating in allowing people to drop off presents at their office in Reigate.
Through the LocalGiving #growyourtenner scheme we raised an additional £350 in matched donations and then an additional £60 from #GivingTuesday which effectively meant new presents for an extra 40 children.
Toy Barnhaus in Redhill who were so helpful when we went shopping… and gave us a discount.
Disney Store UK who gave us 48 lovely Mickey Mouse toys from their #ShareTheMagic scheme – everywhere we looked today there seemed to be a Mickey Mouse staring back! A lovely addition to the gift bags.
The Local Handyman who donated selection boxes – nothing says ‘Christmas’ like a good ‘ol selection box, eh?
Tim and Annabelle at The Mobile Pizzeria who gave us pizza vouchers to include.
Five of the bags contained a copy of the lovely book ‘Yuck! said the Yak’ by local children’s author Alex English – thank you Alex!
Angela from Handa UK who donated boxes and boxes of brand new bath products and gift sets for the children and their Mums.
Rob from Silverback Guerrilla Productions who was on hand to take pictures (and to make us smile :))
The lovely team at the YMCA Sovereign Centre who made us so welcome and created a lovely environment to work in.
The talented Shona Gow who produced the Santa Stork Thank You Certificate and Activity Packs sent to all those who donated online or bought a gift.
And a very special thanks to our new volunteer Jenny who took on the task of ‘Chief Elf’ and coordinated this whole campaign – welcome to the team Jenny; you did an amazing job!

And just as we were finishing up the ladies from Reigate & Banstead Women’s Aid dropped off a thank you card after collecting their presents – as you can see all your donations are so very much appreciated. Thank you everyone.