Forget Me Not, St. Nick!
Hello all!
Now that the leaves are falling, there’s a chill in the air, and all the Halloween candy has been eaten- it’s time for Christmas!! 🎄 Around this time every year, we do our Christmas Forget-Me-Notts program, collecting and wrapping Cadbury’s Selection Boxes to give to children to open on Christmas morning. For most of the year, Forget-Me-Notts focuses on giving families essential household items. This program lets us give a gift of chocolate for children to enjoy and call their own. The program is all about letting a child know they are not forgotten and cared about: hence the name Forget-Me-Notts.
The Process
We partner with social workers around Nottingham to distribute selection boxes. We’ll gather how many boxes are being requested and from there reach out to our awesome collectors. In the past, we’ve been able to collect selection boxes and host a group to wrap and get them ready to go out to social workers. This year we are giving donors the chance to wrap their boxes along with collecting them. Once it reaches the end of October, it’s all about letting people know through social media, blogs, and word of mouth. We rely mostly on donations from the community so the more people that are aware the better! Once collected, wrapped, and packed, they are ready to be distributed out to social workers who then give them out to children in their care to open on Christmas morning.
2019 wraps with Ikano, Halifax, and the University of Nottingham Cheerleaders
Why We Do It
Every year, we get an overwhelming amount of gratitude for the program. The social workers we give selection boxes to come back with lots of thanks and appreciation for the impact the gifts have on the children. Our donors and even us in the office don’t really get to hear about the stories of the kids and families this program supports, so I’ve asked some of our long-standing care worker partners to share their experiences with Christmas:
Nottingham City Council
‘Early Help teams have been privileged over recent years to be able to distribute donated toys and selection boxes to children in Nottingham who may not otherwise receive anything for Christmas.
I have observed first-hand the surprise, excitement and joy when children receive something and also the gratitude and relief from parents who want to do their best, but cannot afford more than just the basics.
Examples include;
- a 2 year old girl and her mother have just moved into a flat having spent time in a refuge after they fled an abusive relationship. Her mum has spent everything she has on basic furniture, clothes and food; having left everything they owned behind. This is the first Christmas her daughter will have away from fear, and her mum wants to make it special – but she can’t afford gifts or treats.
- a family of 2 parents and 8 children, the parent works but the family struggle for money, they rely on food banks regularly. Most clothes and toys are handed down from one child to the next, and the youngest children rarely have anything new – or just for themselves.
These are just two of the families whose children would love any kind of gift or treat this Christmas – the kindness of your donations means so much more than just a THANK YOU – it means someone cares and it creates happy memories. Thank you for everything you do to support Nottingham’s Children.’
‘The impact on our children in our children’s homes and short breaks Unit, is that it absolutely brings a great big smile to their faces as they so love chocolate! It also tells them that there are generous and kind people in our city who care about them too.
Thank you for all that you are doing, it means a lot to our children and to us as their carers, and we find that acts of kindness generates further acts of kindness by our young people who have themselves followed the example and donated gifts themselves to children on hospital wards and participated in walks to raise money for people with cancer etc.’
Thank you cards from children who received selection boxes
Nottinghamshire County Council
‘I worked with a family last Christmas with a 9 year old boy with ADHD and his elder sister who has ASD and is largely none verbal. I took them both a selection box along at Christmas and they were so grateful. They both excitedly ripped into the boxes like they had never had chocolate before and the boy even offered me some of his.
I definitely think that the selection boxes are appreciated by the families we work with.’
How to Get Involved
Your support in this endeavor is monumental to us. We have a couple ways you can help us collect boxes.
1.) Donate a selection box (or 2). We are asking for Medium Cadbury Selection Boxes. Get in touch via email or phone call to schedule a drop off time to our office
2.) Donate money. Just £2 enables us to buy a child a selection box. See at the bottom of this page, a link to donate specifically to Forget-Me-Notts Christmas.
3.) Share share share!! Share our social media posts, this blog, or even just tell your friends/family about us!
Our deadline to receive all selection boxes is the 16th of November. This may feel very early to be delivering Christmas presents but it ensures that the most vulnerable children have a gift to open Christmas morning :) Please deliver boxes to our office by then.
We can’t thank all of our collectors and donors enough. Our jobs are simply to link the gift to the recipient and without the support you guys give to us, we wouldn’t be able to make this happen. We appreciate every single person who donates, collects, wraps, shares, etc. Every effort goes to making a child feel special on Christmas.
Much love and many thanks- Emma