An annual appeal to provide gifts to disadvanataged children at Christmas has once again reached its target.
The Kevin Jenkins OBE Newham Christmas Toy Appeal 2022, run by charity Ambition, Aspire, Achieve (AAA) in partnership with the Recorder, will see gifts distributed to more than 3,000 families thanks to this year's donations.
Operations manager for AAA and appeal co-ordinator, Paula Blake, said the campaign had been “a massive challenge this year and one of the toughest ever.”
READ MORE: Brothers give 450 advent calendars to Newham toy appeal
“We want to say a huge thank you to everyone involved and thank them for helping us achieve our charity’s core aims – which are making a difference and changing lives. It’s what we exist to do.”
West Ham United star Kurt Zouma took a break from preparing for the resumption of the Premier League to spend a day helping out at the appeal's toy warehouse.
Zouma, who was joined by academy players Remi Coddington and Will Greenidge, delivered gifts and helped with packing and sorting.
Donations and deliveries to the appeal came thick and fast to help the target be reached.
Newham Chamber of Commerce presented gifts to the appeal at a special breakfast meeting at the Holiday Inn Express at the ExCeL.
A team from Zurich Insurance UK visited AAA’s Arc InThe Park base in Canning Town to present 50 gifts chosen by their employees as part of their support this year.
A further 25 gifts were also received from their Croydon office.
East Ham MP Sir Stephen Timms made his traditional donation of £100 for the appeal.
Former Recorder editor and AAA trustee Colin Grainger received more donations for his annual sponsored swim and amassed a total of £1,830 for the campaign – the most he’s ever raised.
READ MORE: Items signed by Mark Noble among donations for toy appeal
Theatre Royal Stratford East acted as a drop-off point for the campaign and delivered the gifts to the warehouse on Friday (December 16).
John Ratomski and volunteers from Irons Supporting Foodbanks handed over gifts to the appeal whilst Cornelius Henry and Noel Morris from St Saviours Church, Forest Gate, also dropped off presents for young ones.
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Numerous other cash donations, toy collections and drops have also been made, with food hampers arriving from Community Food Enterprises in Silvertown.
Warehouse volunteers
Footballers are not the only people to have given up their time to help out at the toy appeal's warehouse.
Volunteers from toy giant Lego and construction firm Mace attended across two days.
Investment firm Bain Capital had 20 volunteers at the warehouse, given by Quattro Plant Hire, as part of their Europe Charity Day celebrations.
There was more help from a team of volunteers from asset management company Janus Henderson. They were busy unwrapping, sorting and packing gifts for distribution and also made a donation of toys.
Teams from Barclays UK also visited the warehouse and helped with unpacking boxes of toys donated or ordered online as well as sorting, wrapping and distributing the gifts.
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