How we're planning to help West Sussex kids in need this Christmas
Our children's charity Cash for Kids has started its Mission Christmas appeal.
Last updated 16th Nov 2020
With four million children living in poverty across the UK - our children's charity Cash For Kids is launching its biggest ever Mission Christmas appeal.
That includes in West Sussex, where around a quarter of children here are in families on low-incomes.
Last year the charity distributed £15 million worth of gifts to 380,000 children - making it the single biggest toy appeal in Britain.
Now, the impact of COVID-19 means the task is even bigger.
Even before today's launch they have taken nearly 110,000 applications for families who may not be able to afford to buy gifts for their children.
Phoebe Ruxton works for FareShare - she says Christmas is always a difficult time of year:
"All the very basic essentials, like warm clothes and heating, which are pretty basic things to have, all of those cost more.
"For vulnerable families, that takes away from your budget.
"There are families who are extremely stretched at the moment, who have to make very, very difficult choices between whether to put the heating on or have a hot meal that evening."
How is Mission Christmas working this year?
With all that in mind, it's more important than ever that we help those in our communities.
So we've made some adjustments to our appeal this year, to make sure as many as possible can be involved.
As usual, you can donate a new, unwrapped gift to any of our drop-off points, which you can find here.
You'll find some gift ideas by clicking that link above, too!
But we also have the option to donate online****** if that is easier and safer for you.
If you can, please donate gifts as early as possible, as we may not have time to sort and distribute gifts donated late in the appeal, as the pandemic is limiting the number of volunteers we can have to sort toys.
If we can't get gifts out in time, these will be used to support families in crisis in the New Year or held over to start Mission Christmas 2021.
Online and text donations will be used to purchase gifts for age groups we are struggling to help and to support the work of Cash for Kids throughout the year.