A team of kind-hearted workers from a contact centre on Tyneside have turned into Santa’s little helpers to provide much needed items for homeless and disadvantaged people over the festive period.
Lindsey Stone and her team from Virgin Media on Team Valley have been collecting everything from sleeping bags to first aid kits and hats to socks to make sure that no one goes cold over Christmas.
The idea came about when Lyndsey heard about the work being done by The People’s Kitchen and she decided to organise volunteers from the contact centre to help her. What started as a simple collection has now resulted in a mini bus full of items being taken onto the streets of Newcastle for distribution by The People’s Kitchen.
“We’re delighted to be able to volunteer our time collecting items for the friends of The People’s Kitchen,” said Lyndsey. “We’ve even managed to get cotton bags printed so that they can use them every day to keep personal items in. We all take things like deodorant and toothpaste for granted but when you haven’t anything like that it must be a massive boost to your self-confidence. We also had some Virgin Media mugs lying around the office which we felt would give a sense of personal belonging for the friends. No matter how small our gesture is, I hope that we have made a big difference.””
Colin Herron who is a trustee of the charity met the team from Virgin Media on the streets of Newcastle to help distribute their generous donations.
“We and our friends totally rely on kind donations like this one from Virgin Media and those through schools, churches, businesses, private donations or the justgiving.com/thepeopleskitchennewcastle web pages. Receiving gifts like this over the festive period together with plenty of food helps bring a bit of normality into their lives while everyone else is spending precious time with family and friends.
” The team from Virgin Media have done really well and we’re all very grateful especially at this time of year.”