CVS Christmas Toy Appeal 2019 - What Was Achieved

It is with thanks to the 23 local business and organisations, and the numerous individual donors an all their collective generosity the CVS Christmas Toy Appeal raised a whopping 2500 plus toy and gift donations in 2019! A truly bumper year for the appeal which saw every one of the 20 local Cheshire East charities and family services that requested toys from the appeal received a full allocation. Many organisations received more than they asked to make it an extra special Christmas for those who might have otherwise gone without. The overall number of local children supported by the appeal was around 1300, each receiving the support from the 20 charities and family services in different capacities. 

Who recieved donations?

The charities and family services supported were: Cheshire Without Abuse  l Central Cheshire Buddy Scheme l South Cheshire CLASP l Cheshire and Warrington Carers Trust l Home-Start Central and West Cheshire l Friends for Leisure l New Life Church (Congleton) l Mid Cheshire Riding for the Disabled l Ruby's Fund  l Carers Trust 4 All l Middlewich and District Foodbank l  Child Action Northwest l  Cheshire East Youth Support Service l Weaver Vale Housing Trust Autism InclusiveFact 22 l On Your Marks CIC l Each charity working directly with the deserving children in our community. 2 Other CVS verified Cheshire East registered charities and local support services asked for their details not to be shared publicly.


 Here is what the CVS Christmas Toy Appeal acheived in 2016, 2017 and 2018


Messages from those supported

The Christmas presents were brilliant. They were given out at our group parties by Santa, attended by over 72 disabled children and young people. The children loved the presents and many got to meet Santa which was great.
- Stephanie Lawley, Central Cheshire Buddy Scheme

We would like to say a BIG THANK YOU for the amazing presents we received for our children at Christmas. Our families are all single parents/step-parents from the local area. The gifts were presented at our annual Christmas party.  We also used some of the presents as prizes for the party games we played. The children had a wonderful time. Your generosity is much appreciated by us and all our families.
- Hayley Grey, South Cheshire CLASP

My colleague and I collected the presents and really enjoyed selecting presents for the young carers we work with, we were overwhelmed with the generosity of people and the quality of gifts and were delighted to be able to distribute them along the families. The families were incredibly grateful for the gifts, many said they simply would not have been able to buy.
- Cathryn Rayner, Cheshire East Young Carers Hub

Many thanks to all who donated to the CVS toy appeal all those families and young people who recieved these gift were truely thankully it made a hugh difference to them having a wonderful and exciting christmas thank you. 
Kevin Browning, Youth Support Service



Thank you so much for the donation. All the toys were supplied to children who attend our regular activities. They were handed out by Santa himself (one of our volunteers dressed up) The children who recieved the gifts are from families in real financial hardship, so unsure what else they would have received. Thank you again.
- Vicky, GGO Community Group  

The wonderful donations of a wide selection of good quality toys and gifts enabled us to offer every disabled child with a gift from Santa at our annual Christmas Party - we were able to match gifts to be age appropriate - it really made the event feel extra special and parents and carers as well as the children were delighted. We also used some of the donations for pass the parcel and prizes at the event. We could not of done this without the donations and we are so grateful, on behalf of everyone at Cheshire & Warrington Carers Trust and families who benefitted - thank you so very much - these gifts made alot of vulnerable children very happy.
- Lisa Warburton, Cheshire & Warrington Carers Trust

I would like to say a big thank you to you on behalf of our vulnerable customers who received toys from yourselves, they made a huge difference to our families, to be able to see there children have something to open on xmas day, we distributed the toys to families who were nominated by their housing officer, support worker or from our money matters team, they were all given out as we had a big demand this year and we were out delivering for over a week. Our aim is to make sure every child had something to open on xmas day and with your help we achieved that so thank you from myself weaver vale housing trust and the families you help suport.
- Lesley Sharratt, Weaver Vale Housing Trust

The team here at Home-Start Cheshire, and the families we support, would like to say a huge thank you for the kind donation of toys this Christmas. We recruit and train volunteer Family Mentors to support families with young children under the age of five, who are experiencing difficulties, for a range of different reasons. We distributed toys, via Santa, at our annual children's Christmas party in Crewe and also, individually to some families who were struggling financially this year.
- Angela Simon, Home-Start Cheshire

The gifts were given out to our young riders, under 18s, at the sessions just before and just after Christmas (for those who weren't there the first week).Everybody was just thrilled and excited to receive their gift.  We lay them out and let the children choose what they want.  We always ensure that the child and their parents or carers are aware of where the gift has come from and they wanted to say a huge thank you to your supporters.  Their gifts mean so much to these families. The children receiving the gifts are all disabled in some way and to come into the room and see the gifts laid out and being allowed to choose is so exciting for them. On behalf of Mid Cheshire Riding for the Disabled we'd like to say a huge thank you to everybody who supported this scheme and to the CVS for all their hard work in organising and coordinating it.
- Jeanette, Mid Cheshire Riding for the Disabled 

Friends for Leisure would like to thank all those that generously supported the CVS Christmas Toy Appeal. thanks to them, disabled children and young people aged 5-21 can enjoy fun and games at our youth group activities across Cheshire East. Playing games is a great way for those registered with FFL to develop their social skills, meet new friends and have fun whilst in a comfortable environment. The games and toys that were donated to the charity will be widely used and very much appreciated in 2020 and beyond! Thank you.
- Hannah Guthrie, Friends for Leisure



How it was all possible

The CVS Christmas Toy Appeal could not happen without the selfless generosity of our pledged supporters. Many were holding collections and fundraising, some acting as donation points in towns across Cheshire East. Returning supporters gave us the confidence to run the appeal and provide that much needed festive cheer to the deserving families and children in our community. This year we welcomed a record number of new supporters, this made 2019 a truly bumper year for the appeal, enabling us to fulfil requests for every organisation and (just as importantly), every age group that we had a request for. Previous years we had shortfalls in donations for 0-2 years and 15+ but not this time around thanks to the fantastic level support that appeal received. We like to thank everyone who pledged their support, raised donations, gave online, and dropped off a toy at a donation point, making a positive difference over Christmas 2019. (full list of this years supporters found below).

Volunteers

We want to say a big thank you to the team of 15 hard working volunteers from Astra Zenica who spent their employer-supported volunteer day sorting through and organising all the donations. With an excess of 2500 donations raised, it was no small task to sort through them all and make allocations for the 20 organisations picking up all on the same day. Their support was absolutely vital, it ensured that the charities received the donations they needed and had the time to deliver them to the families and children ahead of Christmas.

We'd also like to thank all the families from the Families Together Project and Crewe Town Mayor Benn Minshall who volunteered with us in the late summer for a focus group in planning our fundraising activities. It was an incredibly insightful session, and we had a lot of fantastic ideas, some we implemented this year, others which need a little more planning will be incorporated into future appeals. 

Fundrasing

Each year Crewe Alexandra Football Club invites us down to hold a matchday collection. With thanks to the Crewe Alex and Swindon Towns fans, our volunteers again from the Families Together Project raised over £400, every penny went directly to buy gifts and toys for the appeal on their behalf! 

Another £415 was also raised online through our JustGiving page, again with every proceed went directly to buy gifts on the donators behalf. 

The Crewe branch of ASDA kindly gave us some space in-store to hold our very first Christmas wrapping station on November 29th (Black Friday) funded by Crewe Town Council. As a result of wrapping presents of both ASDA staff and customers in exchange for a donation, we raised over £40. It was great fun, not only were we raising money but helping others prepare for Christmas, not everyone enjoys wrapping presents.

CVS

As always, running the appeal is a very challenging but enriching experience for us at CVS. Throughout the year, we work closely with many sector organisations in supporting them to grow and develop their services through direct guidance, advice and training from our development team. Understanding the need within our community tough the work that we do, especially those of families and children we are glad we can expand our body of work, act as a platform for and campaign for donations on behalf of the organisations that benefit from the appeal.  
 
This is an absolutely fantastic project to be a part of and a perfect example of the community coming together to support one another. We at CVS would like to thank all the volunteers that helped the logistics, fundraising and marketing of the appeal. Their support was absolutely vital and set the solid foundation on which the appeal is run. 
 
The success comes thanks to our supporters and the level of donations we receive. The idea of a someone personally picking out a toy or gift and thinking it would make for an ideal gift and bring some real merriment for a child in our community who might otherwise go without at Christmas is a fantastically selfless one. This was done thousands of times over through our donation points and staff collections held at pledged organisations. This year was monumental, and we can not thank people enough.
 
We hope all our volunteers and supporters join us again next year and make 2020 just as if not more than successful as 2019.
 
Thank you! 
 

 

Weston Centre Business Hub (@StorageBoostSS)

Crewe Alexandra Football Club (@crewealexfc)

Elior UK (@elioruk)

Ansa Environmental Services  (@ansaServices)

COS Recruitment (@COSRecruitment)

 Ruby's Fund (@RubysFund)

 Richmond Villages (@RVNantwich)

 Shavington Academy (@Shavington_Ac)

Blue Group (Central) Ltd (@blue_machinery‏)

 Close Brothers (@CloseBrothers

AVA CAD/CAM Group Ltd (@avacadcam)

What's Happening On North Street - Community Cafe (@northstcrewe)

Hays Travel (Congleton) (@HaysTravel)

 Shepherds Wilmslow  (@shepherdswilms1)

Cooper Buckley

The County Group (@countyins)

 Astra Zeneca (@ASTRAZENECAUK)

 Magformers (@Magformers_GB)

 Apex Connected (@ApexConnected)

 Wistaston Church Lane Academy (@wistaston)

Kindertons Accident Management (@Kindertons)

Trac Precision Machining (@ChromalloyLLC

Hammond McNulty (@Hammond_McNulty)