SHS, Liberum, Instinctif and RELX provide Christmas presents for over 45 disadvantaged families
News article from December 22, 2016
This year, we collaborated with three generous London companies: Liberum, RELX and Instinctif, to provide Christmas presents for over forty-five local disadvantaged families. The project coincided with Local Charities Day, a Government initiative which took place on Friday 16th December.
Each company was supplied with a list of families, including the ages of each child, and created a package of Christmas gifts tailored to each one. The gifts were distributed this week by each family’s SHS Practitioner, and carefully kept hidden from most of the children so that they’d be a surprise! The practitioners were impressed with the support from Liberum, RELX and Instinctif, and the parents were thrilled.
Roxanne*, mother of a seven year old girl:
“I love the fluffy toy! My daughter will love it.”
Suzy*, mother of a four year old boy, agreed that her son will love his presents. Both are single parents and have gone through very hard times recently due to benefits and student grant delays respectively.
Charlotte*, mother of two, said:
“I’m so happy – I can’t believe how generous and thoughtful SHS and Liberum have been to think of us! It means the world to me. The children will love the presents – I’m really over the moon. Thank you!”
Twenty-seven of the families were provided with presents by staff at Liberum, a London investment bank based in Moorgate. They raised £2,000 and donated extra presents for the families living in Islington. Charlotte Marsham, HR Assistant, said:
“Here at Liberum, we love working with School-Home Support (SHS) and initiatives such as the Christmas collection are so important and enjoyable for us. Each year we invite our staff to either bring in a gift or contribute some money, allowing us to purchase something suitable, and this year we are so pleased with how generous and thoughtful Liberum staff have been. We had a large selection of books, toys, chocolate and board games which we carefully put together based on the families identified.
This has been the most successful collection yet, and we are delighted to have been able to support twenty-seven families who may be in difficult circumstances this Christmas. Liberum hopes to have another successful year ahead of working with SHS.”
Instinctif Partners, a communications consultancy based in Islington, put together gift packages for seven families based in Islington and Hackney. Desray Preston, Creative Lead, said:
“This Christmas, Instinctif Partners wanted to do something special for the local community. School-Home Support does an amazing job all year round helping and supporting people who need it most. The “night before Christmas boxes” are an amazing idea that makes sure local families know we care. Knowing that you’re not completely alone, and have support from people who you may not have met puts the ‘human’ back into humanity.”
RELX, an information and analytics company based in Westminster, provided presents for eleven families in Newham and Barking & Dagenham currently receiving intensive support from SHS. Emili Budell-Rhodes, Community Manager, said:
“We at RELX Group see great value in the important work that SHS does to break down barriers to education, and to support vulnerable families in a holistic way. Offering small gifts and using company volunteer leave to wrap presents for these children was a brilliant way for us to share some festive spirit along with the opportunity to hopefully make them feel rewarded, encouraged and motivated to pursue their ambitions and dreams.”
We are so grateful to Liberum, RELX and Instinctif staff for their generosity and hard work in creating these packages. This Christmas, their gifts will make a huge difference to over 40 of the most disadvantaged children and families that we support – thank you!
*Some names have been changed