Be a Santa gift giving scheme

As Christmas is fast approaching, local in-home care company, Home Instead Ipswich, Felixstowe, and Woodbridge, is calling on the local community to support their gift-giving campaign, ‘Be a Santa’.

Since 2013, Home Instead has been collecting and wrapping donated gifts from local people as a way of giving back to the elderly community - spreading joy and festive cheer to individuals who may be feeling lonely or isolated at Christmas.

The way it works is simple. Between now and the 17th of December, donations can be dropped off at Home Instead’s donation point located at Sainsbury’s Warren Heath, Felixstowe Road, Ipswich, IP3 8TQ.

Suggested donations include items such as chocolates, biscuits, toiletries, or winter warmers, such as gloves, scarfs, and blankets.

The Be a Santa team will gift-wrap the donations and deliver them to local community charities such as the Salvation Army, to support older people in the local area who may not otherwise receive a Christmas present.

Caroline Seaden, charity and community coordinator at Sainsbury’s said: “Previously, Home Instead had sent a team to man its ‘Be a Santa’ stand within the store.

"Due to COVID-19 restrictions last year, this wasn’t possible, so we asked if they would like to instead operate a standalone donation point, which was a great success and so we decided this would a great approach again this year. We are extremely proud to support this campaign for another year.”

Wendy Chard, Head of Community Engagement of Home Instead Ipswich, said: “Last year was a strange year for us all, with loneliness being a big challenge. With things slowly returning to normal this year, being able to donate gifts to lonely older people and see the difference we will have made to their Christmas is such a joy”.

“We would like to say a BIG thank you to everyone who has already donated, and not forgetting Sainsbury’s, who has allowed us to set up a donation station.

Wendy continued: “As a care provider for the elderly, we are very aware of how loneliness can affect people, our clients have a relationship with their CAREGivers, but others are not so lucky. This is why this campaign is extremely important to us.”

For more information about the Be a Santa campaign or to find out more about Home Instead, please call 01473 272301.

Photo captions LtoR: Wendy Chard, head of community engagement at Home Instead, and Caroline Seaden, head of charities at Sainsbury's.

click here for more details or to contact Home Instead (Ipswich, Woodbridge & Felixstowe)