Gifts4Kids
"I was genuinely blown away by the generosity of the service"
In the run up to Christmas we are extra busy; on top of our core service we open our annual Christmas campaign.
Formerly known as SantaBaby, Gifts4Kids sees Family2Family collect donations of brand new toys and gifts for children 0 - 16 years who are living in East Sussex (or surrounding areas) and are otherwise likely to go without a gift.
Christmas 2023 saw a huge increase in demand for this campaign (almost 50%!) but incredibly, with support from local individuals and various businesses, we were able to provide great quality gifts for all 705 children referred. Each child received a main gift, secondary gift and stocking filler gift - whilst we don't collect information about families that would make them recognisable, we asked referees to provide details about the children's interests and needs so we could ensure gifts were well matched.
"The quality of items gifted was really excellent. They were all age appropriate & had been matched very well to the individual child’s interests. They were all presented in quality packaging which added to the feeling that they had been picked with each child in mind"
"Being able to give our parents gifts to give their children is of enormous benefit to their mental health, finances, and it has helped reduce the stress that Christmas and present buying creates, the amount of gifts per child was amazing, hopefully contributing to a positive Christmas day"
"One of the mum's cried when I handed her the gifts. She hadn't been able to afford any gifts for her children this year and was overwhelmed by the generosity of the donations".
"I genuinely think some of the children would literally have had nothing this year. Not only did they have gifts to open, but they would have felt like their parent had made effort to give them something that they liked. They would be able to join in with conversations at school about what they got for Christmas, rather than being the odd ones out who didn't get anything from Santa/parents - such a massive thing! It also meant the mum felt significantly less guilty for her abiltiy to provide 'extras' like gifts at Christmas. Thank you so much!!"
Gifts4Kids will be back in action from November 2024.
