During December last year, Nugent Care’s fundraising team appealed to the people of Merseyside to donate food, clothes, toys and money to help support individuals and families in need during the festive period. To date, the charity has collected £12,000 in financial donations and toys and clothes for families and parcels for people living in poverty to the value of £12,000, making a combined total of £24,000.
The support came from local schools who held sponsored Christmas Jumper days, Nugent Care supporters running in Liverpool’s Santa Dash, carol concerts at St Peter and Paul and St Benet’s churches, and children from The Epsom Centre in Vauxhall holding a sleep out to raise money for the Homeless.
51 schools from across the city attended carol concerts in the Metropolitan Cathedral and donated gifts of toys worth over £5000 and supporters donated 660 shoe boxes for the homeless (with an estimated value of over £6600), containing toiletries and other goodies which were delivered through Nugent Care’s volunteers, who gave the gift of time to visit isolated and vulnerable people.
The Lord Mayor, Tony Concepcion, along with Nugent’s charity partner Carrington’s Catering, put their support behind the appeal to businesses in the city to donate food, so that staff could make up hampers for families and older people who are struggling to make ends meet.
Many schools made up shoeboxes filled to the brim with toiletries, hats, scarfs and Christmas goodies, and one kind lady even knitted and donated 5 bags of hats, scarfs and gloves to help keep people warm this winter.
Marie Reynolds, Nugent Care’s fundraising manager, said:
“The support of local people, and of our volunteers is testament to the caring area we live in. I can’t thank everyone enough for the gift of time, skills, friendship, and financial donations.”