We joined forces with funders, local partners and the community to spread a little joy this week.
Recognising that this a summer like no other for Worcestershire families, the charity joined forces with Worcestershire Children’s First, Worcestershire County Council and youth and community partners across the districts. YMCAs Youth Work, Nursery and Employability teams planned and compiled 352 age-related activity packs, known as ‘Happiness Hampers’ with step by step activities and creative ideas. A further 124 food packs were also distributed to families experiencing challenging times.
We raised over £12,000 from a variety of funders to finance the activity packs and secured a further £64,744 from National Lottery’s Covid Response Fund designed to enable community partners from across the county to deliver a joined-up approach to Holiday Hunger this summer.
There are funds remaining to deliver even more food packs in the Autumn and Christmas with the intention of reaching over 2000 families this year. The charity is keen to secure further Happiness Hamper funding and would welcome support or donations.
Lisa Carroll, Head of Children, Families and Youth commented: “We were delighted to step up and help our communities. The past few months have been challenging for families and we wanted to do our bit to help. Our teams have been working flat out all week, compiling, planning and packing Hampers. Seeing the smiles on children’s faces as they dug into their bags made all the efforts worth while”.
One of the hamper recipients said ‘Can I please pass on massive heartfelt thanks from myself and my family. I cant put into words how thankful and grateful we are for your kindness and generosity. It will help us so so much. The kids were so excited when they got to look inside their fun pack and they loved every single item. My daughter is now trying really hard to teach her 4 year old brother how to skip which is hilarious to watch.’
Word of thanks to:
Morrisons
Tesco
Redditch and Bromsgrove Councils
Worcestershire County Council
Worcestershire Children’s First
Kidderminster Rotary Club
Bromsgrove Hub
National Lottery Community Fund
