Volunteers completely ‘overwhelmed by toys’

AN ANNUAL report by a Werrington group which helps distressed mums and disadvantaged children has reported an exceptional year and Christmas time.

Kidz2kidz is an administration-costfree group run entirely by volunteers in Werrington.

Since its formation more than 500 distressed mums have received cash help at Christmas plus a special toiletry pack while more than 1,700 children have received Christmas presents, each child receiving three gifts.

Now based in the Werrington Community Library and Wellbeing Centre along with the Werrington Young Persons Support Group and under the umbrella of the Werrington Community Volunteers Group, K2K has had a remarkable year made possible by the sponsors, the Red Cow Golf Society and the Co-op.

The report said: “Our mission, as volunteers, is to provide emergency Christmas funds for distressed mums and toys for disadvantaged children in the Staffordshire Moorlands. Christmas 2018 was our sixth and has undoubtedly been our most rewarding as we have seen a huge increase in the number of requests to our fund.

“A star feature of this year’s campaign was the quality of the toys from the Co-op where 22 branches collected donations from the public and went out and purchased brand new toys. This was totally unexpected and was an initiative the Co-op took themselves with remarkable results. Our volunteers were completely overwhelmed when the toys arrived.

“We have already been told that they have done some initial planning for Christmas 2019!

“Financial aid to distressed mums at this crucial time is vitally important and here we are magnificently supported by the Red Cow Golf Society, who over the years have raised over £12,000 for K2K.

“It is really impossible to even begin to measure just how important this has been in raising the future hopes of folk with such kindness when they are at their lowest ebb.”

Chairman of K2K, David Shaw, said he never dreamt when the idea started that it would develop so much and achieve such heart-warming results.

He said: “Every year we are astounded with the response to our appeal and just how willingly this is given but 2018 has been exceptional.

“It is difficult to put yourself in the position of those who have nothing but the more we see the more we realise just how important the K2K project is and makes us even more determined to carry on the good work into the future.”

All applicants are assessed by Senior Social Services Family Support Personnel as part of the Families First initiative to ensure that our support only goes to deserving families.