Mission Christmas volunteers bring festive cheer

Imagine being a child who wakes up on Christmas morning to discover Santa hasn’t left them any presents. Or a parent who has to prioritise bills and food over buying gifts for their family. Mission Christmas aims to stop that from being a reality for families across the UK.

It’s estimated that before the pandemic, 1 in 3 children in the UK were living in poverty. It’s impossible to know what effect the pandemic has had on that figure but it’s reasonable to assume that even more families have been impacted. So we were delighted to be able to send two groups of enthusiastic colleagues to help out at the Manchester Mission Christmas HQ to help bring some festive cheer.

Our colleague volunteers spent the day unpacking and sorting donations, then making up gift packages for families across Greater Manchester. Father Christmas even made an appearance, along with Hits Radio Pride Breakfast DJ Jordan Lee!

Our colleagues have been making a difference in their local communities through supported volunteering since 2006. It is part of our Ethical Policy commitment which states 'our workplace culture reflects co-operative values and ethics'. An important part of this is giving colleagues the opportunity to volunteer and we provide up to two days paid time per year, pro-rata, to every colleague to support volunteering.

The Mission Christmas campaign is run every year by the Hits Radio charity, Cash for Kids. You can help them by donating money online or by text, or you can donate new, unwrapped gifts at B&M stores across the UK. Mission Christmas caters for all ages - from babies, right up to teens - so anything that's giftable and brand new (still in packaging) can be donated. Toys, games and health and beauty gift sets are all perfect gifts.

Watch this heart-warming film made by our pop up van team to find out more…