‘Thank you to everyone’
HUNDREDS of Christmas presents have been handed in by members of the public to Great Central Railway (GCR) after the sickening theft of nearly 400 gifts for life limited children.
The heart-warming donations follow a similar influx of presents to Rainbows Hospice in the aftermath of the crime, which saw 370 Christmas presents stolen from one of GCR’s carriages at Quorn station.
HUNDREDS of Christmas presents have been handed in by members of the public to The Great Central Railway (GCR) after the sickening theft of nearly 400 gifts for life limited children.
The heart-warming donations follow a similar influx of presents to Rainbows Hospice in the aftermath of the crime, which saw 370 Christmas presents stolen from one of GCR’s carriages at Quorn station.
The presents were to be donated to the Leicester Royal Infirmary children’s ward and Rainbows. All of them were wrapped ready for delivery.
Michael Stokes, of the GCR told the Echo that every day since the thieves broke in, they have received donations from the public.
He said that they have had box upon box of toys given to the railway, and that if it keeps up then they will end up with more toys than they had at the start.
He said that his office was full with games, cuddly toys, puzzles, wrapping paper, colouring books and numerous other different toys.
Michael said he would like to thank everyone who has donated and said that it really is in the “spirit of Christmas.”
Michael said: “We have people coming in and handing in toys every single day since the theft, and over the weekend we had toys donated to every station and they were all brought to our Loughborough station.
“I have had people coming in to the booking office to buy a ticket and then just knocking and dropping presents off, we even had someone the other day hear about what happened and they went and bought some games from our gift shop and brought them back for us to give to kids.
“It is fabulous the support we have had, and I can’t thank everybody enough.
“At this rate we could end up with even more toys than what we started with, which would be lovely because it would mean we could give them to maybe four or five wards instead of the two that we initially hoped to have enough for. ”
He said that he is also going to meet with the Tesco, Hamilton store in Leicester and that they are going to give a donation to the cause.
He said: “We got a call from them the other day and they said that they wanted to make a large donation after hearing the news but they wouldn’t tell us what it was, so it’s going to be a surprise for us all.”
Donations have not just been flooding into the GCR, Rainbows Hospice has also received an influx of presents to ensure youngsters would not miss out on the magic of Christmas.
The hospice has issued its thanks to anyone who has donated a gift – and says it will now have enough toys to go round.
Anyone who would still like to give is asked to consider a mone- tary donation so the charity.
East Midlands Trains has also stepped in with an offer to restore the shortfall in toys through its seasonal Santa charity trains.
A spokesperson for the train operator said: “We’re delighted to be able to help with such a worthy cause.
“Our staff were really upset to hear about the theft of the Christmas presents and wanted to do something to help out. “We’ve already had lots of interest from our staff wanting to donate gifts and support the Leicester Royal Infirmary and the Rainbows hospice.”
Andrew Ball, Rainbows director of supporter relations, said: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the response to the story in the news about the theft of Christmas presents destined for Rainbows.
“The warmth and generosity of the public has been overwhelming.
“And we are so grateful to East Midlands Trains for stepping in with their warm-hearted support.”