Staff at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital are calling on the public to help them achieve their goal of providing a gift for every inpatient in hospital on Christmas day.
The Send a Smile with Santa campaign, run in partnership with Norwich Evening News, kicked off on the 1st November and the hospital is aiming to collect more than 1,000 presents for patients spending Christmas in hospital.
Many local businesses have already kindly supported the appeal, including Langleys who have donated a variety of gifts for children and teenagers and Tesco who offered their Harford Bridge store as a drop-off point for donations and whose customers have filled two trolleys with gifts for the appeal.
Visitors to the hospital have also been contributing generously, with delivery stations at each main reception regularly filled with donated gifts.
Louise Cook, Fundraising Manager at NNUH encouraged local people to take part: “Christmas is the season of giving and with two weeks left to go in our Christmas campaign, we’d be so grateful if local people would like to get involved in our appeal. We’ve had some lovely gifts for all patient groups so far, ranging from toiletries to games for children and we’d like to say a huge thank you to those who have already donated.”
Having collected around a third of the gifts needed so far, the hospital is still in need of donations, particularly those tailored towards adult males and females. Toiletries, puzzle books, non-scented wipes and socks are ideal as gifts for these groups and the hospital is keen to ensure that all patients have a suitable gift to open on the day.
Emma McKay, NNUH Director of Nursing said: “Our sincere thanks go to the local people and businesses who have already supported our Christmas campaign this year. We’re determined to make sure that patients spending Christmas Day with us can celebrate, and all of the fantastic donations we’ve had so far are sure to contribute to a magical atmosphere across the hospital on the day.”
Gifts can be donated at a variety of drop-off points across the county, including the Norwich Evening News offices on Rouen Road, various Natwest branches, the Cooperative Travel branch in Cromer and Tesco Harford Bridge.
For more information on the appeal, please contact Louise Cook, Fundraising Manager at NNUH, on 01603 287107 or email [email protected]. Please ensure all presents are dropped off by Saturday 10th December 2016 to allow time for distribution and wrapping.
