The “Merry Little Christmas” Campaign will run from the 30th of November till the 7th of December and aims to raise £70,000 for children in need who would otherwise likely not receive Christmas presents at all this year. 

 

Little Village is a baby bank that provides families with little ones from the ages of 0-5 with necessities. These range from pre-loved baby blankets, clothes, and shoes to [EG1] Moses baskets and cots. The charity looks after families who have fallen on hard times and have no one else to lean on for help. In 2020 they helped over 7000 children to have ‘the essential things they need to thrive’, and they have had an enormous, positive impact on the lives of these children who receive toys and books, in addition to warm clothes and blankets, which bring joy to their lives, enriching their education and allowing their creative minds to flourish where they may otherwise not have had the chance to. 

 

The charity has teamed up with the Entertainer toy company to provide all the families they have helped this year with a voucher valued at £12 per child. This allows families to choose the gift they give their child because, as was said by a Little Village representative; “who knows a child better than the parents themselves”, upholding and promoting Little Village’s long-term goal of helping families whilst ensuring they retain their ‘dignity, choice and agency’. 

 

Little Village successfully held a Christmas appeal last year. However, this year, to make the appeal run even smoother and reach as many people as possible, they will be employing WhatsApp to spread the word and gather more donations. With the help of volunteers, they have named ‘team leaders,’ pre-prepared; individual messages and pictures will be sent out to all [the team leaders’] contacts at the push of a button. These team leaders will have the ability to slightly alter the messages however they see fit to make them more personalised and persuasive to entice more people to “share the love”.

 

The hope is that this will create a water-fall-effect that spreads as far and wide as possible.  Recipients of the message should, if all goes well, be encouraged to pass on the message to their own (however closely knit they choose) circle of friends and acquaintances in a long chain of kindness and Christmas cheer. If people would like to become team members, all they would need to do would be to go to the Little Village website and contact one of the staff, who are more than happy to welcome any new volunteers. 

 

It is important to note that this appeal will be held on The Big Give Christmas challenge website. Therefore, any and all donations made to the charity for this appeal will be doubled automatically, made possible partly due to funding allocated to them by The Childhood Trust. Every penny donated on the Big Give Website to Little Village from midday on the 30th November to noon on the 7th December will be crucial for Little Village to reach their goal. They will need to raise £35,000 online in around a week, which would be an extraordinary feat for this relatively small charity.

If anyone would like to make a donation, they can do so here: https://donate.thebiggive.org.uk/campaign/a056900001v53v7AAA