Kevin Jenkins OBE Newham Christmas Toy Appeal: Thank you 3,300 times over – our roll of honour

IT’S been one of our toughest challenges but we made it a magical Christmas for children who need it most…all thanks to the hard work of staff and volunteers of  Ambition, Aspire, Achieve – and the joy YOU gave!

Those of you who dug deep during one of the toughest times this country has ever faced really did us proud.

Donations big and small came to the Kevin Jenkins OBE Newham Christmas Toy Appeal 2022.

And today – on Christmas morning – we are happy to report the Spirit of Christmas is alive and well.

We started off trying to make life happier for 3,000 families. In the end we dropped gifts to more than 3,300! It was  simply the most remarkable effort.

Today we present our Roll of Honour.

Quattro Plant Hire for use of their warehouse during the busiest of times.

 Toy/Gift Donations:

Gallions Reach Shopping Park, CVC Advisers Ltd, East London Business Alliance, Newham Chamber of Commerce, Reed Smith, Investec, Frogmore, Fremantle, Valero, SIG Roofing, St Saviour’s Church, Forest Gate.

Pilgrims Way Church, East Ham, All Saints Church, Writtle, St Nicholas Church, Kelvedon Hatch, St Margaret’s Catholic Church, Doddinghurst,  Irons Supporting Foodbanks and John Ratomski, Stratford Shopping Centre.

Close Brothers, Forest School, Smyths Toys Beckton, Keel Toys Ltd, Bikers Who Want to Make a Difference,

Rina, Neo and Rico Jain Naha, Treats For Kids.

Combination of Financial Contributions, Gifts and/or Support:

Sahara Homes & Sharon Kaur, Royal Docks Trust, Edwards Duthie, Bowling and Co, Axis Europe, Sir Stephen Timms MP, Lyn Brown MP, Deputy Lieutenant John Barber, Morgan Sindell, LinkCity, Thames Water, L&Q, Newham Bookshop.

MACE Construction, Burberry, ASG Shutters, Rotary Club Canary Wharf, Rotary Club Newham, Barclays, Lister Communiy School, Foot Asylum, Community Food Enterprises, West Ham United men’s and women’s teams and West Ham Foundation.

• West Ham United men and women joined us at this year’s appeal

Clapton Community Football Club, Colin Grainger, BAIN Capital, LEGO Group, Accenture, Zurich Insurance Group, Valero, Janus Henderson, Berkeley Homes, All Funds, Tate & Lyle and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP.

Lunaria Partners, Bugler Group, Frogmore, Chelsfield, Bluewater, Morrisons Canning Town, Menzies Distribution, Higgins Partnership, Deborah Day Theatre School Trust.

And  the many individuals who have donated cash via our appeal Just Giving Page and donated gifts directly, along with all the volunteers who have provided support in the toy warehouse over the past three weeks.

Our Chief Executive Jonny Boux also revealed that, as part of the appeal this year, we have also put together and distributed nearly 200 seasonal food hampers for families in need this week.

Again, generously supported by a number of companies and individuals making donations, in particular Menzies Distribution who gave us two pallet loads of food donations this week and helped to deliver over 60 of the hampers across the borough on Thursday and Friday and Christmas Eve.

Featured Image (cover) West Ham United’s Kurt Zouma helps pack toys with some of the AAA team at our warehouse. Picture: West Ham United.

Images in main copy: Lucy Jenkins and Colin Grainger