Our partnership campaign to support the local community over a difficult Christmas

Christmas In A Box was a project organised and executed by The K+C Christmas Collective, a group of frontline charities working across the borough to deliver services to vulnerable residents.  The aim was to ensure that, in the context of extreme restrictions on social interaction during the Covid 19 pandemic and the financial hardships caused by successive lockdowns, vulnerable single residents and families received a delicious Christmas meal, gifts and good cheer for the festive season.

Against our original target of reaching 5,000 residents with Christmas In A Box parcels, we are delighted to report that by the end of the project we had achieved the following:

• In total the boxes reached 8,365 people in need including 220 homeless people
• 4,031 boxes delivered in total, of which 2404 were delivered to single people and 1,627 to families
• In addition, we supplied Christmas gifts to 20 in-patients at the children’s eating disorder unit in Kensington

Feedback from residents who had received the boxes was overwhelmingly positive and a sample is included below:

Thank you so much for all you have done, it was such a heart-warming hamper to receive, truly appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.  It’s been such a tough year and it’s people like you who make a difference.  The food and gifts were very overwhelming.  God bless you all.

Thank you so much for the Christmas bagful of goodies. I am also saying thank you on behalf of all those who can't send you an email.   I was really touched by such a surprise and kindness and by the beautiful wrapping of the wonderful book about Kensington and Chelsea, the delicious Christmas lunch and all the others lovely treats.

Thank you so much for the food. Our family is very grateful for all the hard-working volunteers who make Collective Christmas Hamper help thousands of families this year. 
Lots of love *** family

Thank you for your help & support during this time. Wishing you a merry Christmas and happy New year. Also please thank age 9 Nadia for our lovely Christmas card.

This project would not have been possible without the support of our incredible army of volunteers and supporters. 

• 262 volunteers donated their time and efforts to the project, clocking up 1,080 volunteer hours.
• 14 local schools and 1 local nursery supported the project with donated gifts, handmade cards and/or fundraising activity

Unfortunately, due to the move into tier 4 and additional restrictions, we were unable to proceed with the Travelling Community Choir activity.  However, volunteers were involved in a range of other tasks including packing the Christmas boxes, wrapping individual presents and delivering them to the recipients during Christmas week.

A sample of feedback from volunteers engaged in the project is below:

I really enjoyed delivering the parcels, they were so gratefully received. A number of the Mums were tearful and when I was delivering to a top floor flat, 3 children ran down to greet me and asked if the parcel was from Father Christmas.

We’re so pleased it was a success and could help. Everyone was great and it was a pleasure to be a part of. I think we had quite a turnout, plus the vans. Congratulations to everyone. Wishing you all a merry Christmas and fantastic new year.

Just want to say thank you for giving us the opportunity to help out. You guys did an incredible job.

Many thanks for the update and congratulations. All the best to you and your team for Christmas and 2021. Thank you for your role in supporting our community.

Thank you

On behalf of The K+C Christmas Collective, we would like to say a huge thank you for supporting our Christmas Appeal and enabling us to deliver a project with such profound impact on the community at a very difficult time.  With your help, we will continue to support our community through the challenges that 2021 will bring and beyond.