Receipt and distribution receive and distribute festive cheer!

Our receipt and distribution team have been busy collecting stacks of donated selection boxes to spread some Christmas cheer to young children at Urban House in Wakefield, an accommodation centre which houses asylum seekers.

The team can usually be found shipping out goods ordered by members of staff across the Trust such as supplies and medical equipment, but after visiting Urban House a number of times decided to try their hand at playing Santa and providing presents instead.

Julie Wilson, receipt and distribution manager, explained: “My colleague and I have visited Urban House on several occasions for work reasons and one of the first things that had an impact on us was the children staying there. It’s a busy place full of people who have nothing except hope, but the children just seem to carry on being children like any others around the world.

“Thinking about which Christmas presents to buy for our own families, we thought again about those children and the thought of Christmas passing them by unnoticed was too much, especially for me. My 6 year old granddaughter had just visited Santa and was reeling off the endless list of toys she would like.

“The idea to start a collection of selection boxes seemed to be the best and cheapest way that these children could share in a little bit of Christmas and after all, everyone loves chocolate! In a couple of weeks we collected 61 selection boxes, 8 tubes of sweets, 3 boxes of biscuits, 2 chocolate oranges, 2 chocolate Santas and a bag of chocolate money!

“Christmas is the perfect time to reflect on our blessings and seek out ways to make life better for those around us.”

Receipt and distribution are now collecting more items from staff to hand to Urban House on 13 December.