900 families in London to benefit from our toy and food hamper appeal

With the festive period adding extra strain to the pockets of residents, this year’s appeal is more important than ever. Thanks to generous donations from corporate partners and the efforts of our colleagues across the organisation, the toy and food hampers will be delivered to each of the families ahead of Christmas Day.

This year:

• 110 families in Waltham Forest received 133 food hampers and 132 children received toys from the appeal
• In Thamesmead, 110 families received toy and food vouchers to help ease the pressure over the festive season
• In Hackney, 450 families received 895 toy deliveries and 25 food hampers
• 266 families also received toy and food hampers in Westminster, Greenwich, Tower Hamlets, Basildon, Kensington & Chelsea, Lewisham, Southwark and Islington.

Hayley Holmes, our resident in Waltham Forest and mother of four children said: “I’ve picked up some Christmas presents for my kids from here today. I asked a couple of weeks ago if I could get any help with Christmas presents and they told me to come back today. I’ve got four children, three girls and one boy, so I was hoping to get some different gifts. The younger ones like dolls and craft, and the older ones like different things.

“It’ll definitely make a difference this year getting these gifts. This year has been more about paying the bills, with the cost of living being the way it is at the moment. I’ve just been making sure we’ve got a Christmas dinner; I’m not really focused on the gifts that we’re going to unwrap. So these toys are really helpful. I know we’re not the only family feeling this way though.”

Sahil Khan, our Director for Community Strategy, Partnerships and Funding said: “The Peabody toy and food hamper is such an important initiative which brings joy to so many families across London and Essex during this festive season. The appeal is more important than it has ever been this year and I want to thank our corporate partners for their generous donations and my Peabody colleagues who have pulled together over the last 10 years to make this appeal such a huge success.”

Corporate partners who contributed this year included BNP Paribas, VINCI, HS2, Karakusevic Carson Architects, Wettons, JA Steele and Son, Harmony Fire, Trowers and Hamlins, Devonshires Solicitors, Saltash, AD Group, Endersham, Mo-Sys Engineering, SQP Engineering Ltd, London Square, PeopleValue, Advanced Building and LMAC.