Essex Fire & Rescue appeal for Christmas hamper donations
The hampers will include food items including Christmas dinner and treats, toiletries and small toys for children.
Essex Fire Service are appealing for donations for their Christmas hampers.
They're hoping to deliver more than 120 hampers to some of the poorest families in North Essex this month.
The hampers will include food items including Christmas dinner and treats, toiletries and small toys for children.
Community Builder at Essex County Fire and Rescue Service Les Nicoll said: “I’m grateful for the support of my colleagues in the Fire Service, I know they enjoyed their day delivering hampers last year and like me found it very emotional. They made a massive difference to all of those families.
“We have been working hard to fund the same event this Christmas and I’m pleased to say we are on track to deliver more than 100 hampers but we’re still looking for donations and toys to help as many people as we can.
“Our hearts were broken when we discovered several families without a working cooker in their home. In 2020, not the odd one, but several families without a working cooker in their home to create wholesome meals for their children. We at N.E.S.T, have sent out our entire stock of donated cookers and will be using our precious funds to buy at least five more simple electric cookers to meet this need.
“It has been an awful year for us all but living in poverty during this time or living in a flat with no garden, with no good food on the table, isolated from friends and family support, has been harrowing.
“One thing that is keeping me awake at night is as you know if a family cannot afford food for Christmas, they certainly cannot afford toys.
“I am asking everybody to consider buying a couple of extra toys this year and donating them to the families we support.”
If you would like to donate toys for children of all ages, you can take them to Clacton Fire Station and Colchester Fire Station where there are storage bins labelled for toy donations.