Church donates more than 100 Christmas hampers to help those struggling this year

A Peterborough church has donated more than 100 Christmas hampers to help residents who are struggling this year.

KingsGate Community Church gifted the hampers to residents staying at YMCA Trinity Group’s accommodation settings across Peterborough.

This outpour of support from Kingsgate Community Church comes at a time when some residents will feel the struggle and challenge of loneliness, loss or isolation more acutely as Christmas draws in.

Daniel Cole, a pastor from the local church provided Alistair Young, Clinical Operations Manager at YMCA Trinity Group with 112 hampers, one for each resident at the charity’s TimeStop and Cresset accommodations.

Daniel said: “You just don’t know what difference a simple Act of Kindness can make to someone.”

The hamper came in reusable red sacks and were filled with practical gifts as well as Christmas treats and an open invitation to join a Christmas celebration at the KingsGate centre.

YMCA Trinity Group works across the Eastern region, with bases in Cambridge, Peterborough and Ipswich to support more than 1000 young or vulnerable people each year through a range of different support programmes, including mental health, family work, youth work, accommodation, childcare, sustainable employment, supporting victims of domestic abuse and helping young offenders get their lives back on track.

Laura Sneeden, Deputy Accommodation Manager at YMCA Trinity Group, said: “This is such a special and appreciated gift. Some of our residents will not receive anything at Christmas other than the small gift we can give to them, so to be able to give them a hamper from a local church will really mean a lot to them.

“We aim to be here for people in our communities at the time when they most need help and support to get their lives back on track. Support like this from the wider community really does make a huge difference.”

Karen Milford, Manager at TimeStop added: “Christmas can be very difficult for some of the young people who live at Time Stop. Last year it was so touching to see the looks on our residents faces when they see that people in the community are thinking of them and how grateful our young people are when receiving the hampers from KingsGate.”