We said there would be an update..... brace yourselves. The NSM Christmas present appeal is all over for another year. We were not expecting it to be quite that mental! It took us about four days and a whole bunch of volunteers, drivers and fetchers/carriers to get everything organised. We gave out dozens of presents to the people that come to us each week, all of whom were so grateful and send their thanks. We also had 50 turkey sandwiches donated by super generous chef David, and Nandos popped over with some hot bread rolls too. Everyone was fed and given a present and its all thanks to your awesome generosity. On our way home, we also managed to give prezzies to a couple of people at the the top of Prince of Wales Road who didnt come to the soup run. They were pretty cold too and luckily as we had so many coats donated we were able to give them the last ones. We gave about 30 or 40 boxes to Norwich Open Christmas on Christmas eve, as we knew we had too many, so it meant we could share the love even further. There were about 15 boxes left after the run so we dropped these off at St Andrews Hall yesterday too, where Christmas dinner for 500 people was in full swing. All the shoeboxes we handed out had toiletries, hand warmers, heat patches, toothbrushes and toothpaste, deodorant, Christmas cards and sweet treats in them, as well as other lovely bits and pieces. We were given bags and bags of other donations too, and we now have a massive stock to keep us going throughout the year. We have crates full of first aid kits, toothy gear, shampoo, shower gel, crisps, cakes, chocolate, tea, coffee, cooking ingredients.... you name it, we have it! And on top of that, £100 in supermarket vouchers from Fresh Financial Consultants in Lowestoft - so generous! This is so amazing - it means we can keep running without having to spend our cash donations on everyday bits, and can put it towards new kit to enable us to run three times a week instead of two. Annoyingly, I didnt get any good snaps of all the boxes together as they were spread out everywhere, but here are a few pics from behind the scenes, and some sent from you guys. We just want to say a massive thanks once again to everyone that donated a present or cashmonies, their space, their time and in the case of our friends, their ears while we had a meltdown. We are grateful beyond words. You have helped give so many people a bit of festive cheer! Hope everyone has had a fantastic Christmas, have a bloody rad new year and watch out for us in 2015 - were going to take NSM even further with your help. THANK YOU! xxx
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 01:02:56 +0000