Midland Heart wraps up Christmas for region’s homeless

Staff at Midland Heart have been getting into the festive spirit by launching a Christmas Box appeal to help the region’s homeless.

Employees have been donating unwanted gifts in the run up to Christmas, ready to be wrapped and presented to customers around its homeless schemes.

Over 200 items were donated with many staff purchasing essential supplies including gloves, hats, toothbrushes, canned food and toiletries to add to the parcels.

The appeal is part of a larger initiative at Midland Heart called ‘Give More,’ which encourages its employees to participate in fundraising activities.

The initiative organises charity events every quarter, with the money raised divided equally and donated to four nominated charities. This year’s fundraising total, which currently stands at £300, will be donated to: Help for Heroes, Save the Children, Macmillan Cancer and a disaster relief charity.

Simi Chopra, chair of Midland Heart’s Give More group, said: “We have had a great response from staff and would like to thank everyone who got involved with the Christmas Box appeal.

“Christmas can be an extremely lonely time of year for many people, but we hope donations like this can help make a difference to our homeless customers. The idea came from a staff suggestion, and it has been so successful we are planning to run it again in 2010.”

Midland Heart runs 16 homeless schemes throughout the Midlands providing accommodation and food as well as care and support.