Pictured: Cllr Zoe Nolan, Cabinet Member for Children and Families with staff at The Saplings Children’s Centre in Bletchley
Milton Keynes City Council has welcomed thousands of pounds worth of festive food, gifts and other support donated by local businesses, organisations, and communities to its 17 Children and Family Centres.
City Council staff have used the donations to put together more than 600 individual hampers of essential food and Christmas treats such as selection boxes and toys for children and gifts for adults. These will be distributed to families in the run up to Christmas.
All Children and Family centres have also put on festive displays and parties for their local communities. The Saplings Children’s Centre in Bletchley supported their local Lakes Club by providing craft activities for people to enjoy at a Christmas Fayre.
“Each year, I’m blown away by acts of kindness from our supportive communities. Thanks to the generosity of local businesses, groups and communities, we’ll be able to make a real difference for some families who are struggling. I also want to thank our Children and Family Centres who work extremely hard to create wonderful festive experiences for children."
Baby Basics, The Salvation Army, Mollys Pantry, MK Dons, Plumbing and Gas Solutions, The Hygiene Bank, The MK Christian Centre, Church without Walls, Faith Dimensions, Mears, Loughton School, Knowles Nursery School, New Bradwell School, and others have contributed to the Christmas hampers and gifts.
Several Children and Family Centres have also had ‘giving trees’ during December where members of the public can choose a gift tag and donate a gift for a family.
The help continues through the festive break. Following on from announcing a £5.5m package of cost-of-living support in its Winter Plan, Milton Keynes City Council is funding a programme of FREE activity sessions and meals to give extra support to local families during the Christmas school holidays. The activity sessions are exclusively available to children, young people, and their families in receipt of benefit related Free School Meals. In addition, families will be provided with £15 of supermarket credit per child, for each week of the two-week Christmas holiday.
Find details of local support and advice at www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/cost-living-support