YOU ARE ALL LIFE-SAVERS
£30k raised so far to give poor kids a Christmas
BIG-HEARTED Mirror readers have already helped us reach £30,000 in the opening week of our Save A Kid’s Christmas campaign.
We’ve joined forces with Save The Children to make sure our poorest youngsters aren’t starved of food or fun time this festive season.
And you’ve responded with jingle bells on to help bring seasonal cheer to cashstrapped families who badly need our help in this most difficult of years.
After we launched the campaign last weekend, donations totalling £20,000 came flooding in from our readers.
And that figure has been bolstered by a £10,000 in donation-matched funding from pharmaceuticals giant GSK.
Your generous donations will aid families such as that of Luke Mutton, who has been hit hard by the pandemic.
Luke, 37, is a full-time single dad to his three boys Eddie, eight, Bobby, three, and Ollie, two – and he’s been relying on food from his parents and a charity to get by.
He also gets Save the Children’s Emergency Support Grant tfor essentials.
Luke, a scaffolder who lives in
Feltham, West London, says: “To say the support we have received from Save the Children has been a life-saver would be an understatement. The generosity we have received has been overwhelming.
“We have a budget of about £40-50 a week for the four of us.
“My 14-year-old daughter Jamie lives with her mum, but she also visits at the weekend, which can be quite cramped in my small flat. I sleep on the living room floor to give her some privacy.”
Luke has had a difficult year, after suffering from Covid-19 while struggling to protect his youngest son Ollie, who suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. ase. “It was absolutely terrifying,” g,” says Luke. “But thankfully none of the boys got it.”
He’s now desperate perate to put the misery of this year ear behind him and not let it t ruin their Christmas. So o he’s gone without to put away £5 to £10 a week for food and presents.
“Thankfully my youngest are most interested in the wrapping paper so I don’t need to worry too much uch about theirs,” he says. ys. “I am cooking
Christmas dinner for the
Having to tell your children you can’t afford presents is horrible and heartbreaking SINGLE DAD LUKE STRUGGLING TO GIVE HIS FOUR KIDS XMAS JOY
first time th this year, which should be interesting.”
He has saved up for months to get Eddie a present – a Nintendo Switch – whic which the youngster has asked for i in vain for his past couple of birthd birthdays. “I can’twait can’t wait to see his little face on Christmas m morning,” says Luke. “Having to tell your children you can’t afford presents is heartbreaking, hear it’s horrible.” After we launched our ca campaign last Su Sunday, £10,000 wa was donated online within the first four days – enough to transform Christmas for thousands of children across the country.
The number of children in Britain in dire need was already a problem in the UK even before the pandemic took hold.
Latest Government figures show there were 4.2 million children living in poverty in Britain in 2018-19.
And even that statistic is forecast to increase by a million by 2022.
Dan Paskins, the Director of UK Impact at Save the Children, said: “This year has been such a difficult one for all of us, which makes the generosity of Mirror readers even more heartwarming.
“Their donations will make a real difference to children who might otherwise go without enough food or a warm home this winter. Parents tell us they will have to go without meals or rely on donated food or gifts to give their children the Christmas they want.
“Thanks to Mirror readers’ generous donations, we can... protect the magic of Christmas for children across Britain.”