As we anticipated, this year was our busiest Christmas so far. So busy in fact, we’ve only just recovered. In previous years, we invited clients to come in and receive donations of food, pyjamas and toys at various appointment times throughout the day. It has always been hectic but wonderful. This year, however, we knew we would have greater numbers so we increased our appointments to stretch over two days. We roped in a few extra elves to help distribute donations and even had a surprise visit from Alexandra Mardell from Coronation Street, who mucked in and helped out in all the chaos.
All in all, we distributed donations to 96 clients who visited over 2 days. This included food for those 96 women, 158 children and 46 additional adults.
We also provided food for other charities which fed an additional 100 people.
As well as food, we distributed 2064 toys for 608 children. We even had donations of Christmas trees and decorations for those families without them.
We could not have done any of this without our loyal supporters. Whether you volunteered, donated, bought from the wishlist or simply shared our posts on social media to spread the word, we want to say thank you. We received many letters from clients after Christmas explaining how without these donations, their family would not have had a Christmas. The Christmas dinner, the treats, the presents and the decorations all add up to a Christmas that parents can look forward to, not dread.
We expect next year to be even busier, we dread to think when we’ll have to start planning it! For now though, we are organising our first Emmeline’s Pantry Jamboree, so look out for information on our Facebook page.
emmelinespantry.com 