Christmas is a time for giving

23 Dec

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Written by Nash & Co Solicitors | 23rd December 2021

Every year, we always look to help our local community. From skydives to runs, walks and bake sales, from sponsorship of events to supporting young people who really need help. We can and do get involved in a wide variety of things! Wherever we can, we often tend to favour the smaller charities or groups, the ones who often get forgotten about and overlooked. These are the types we want to prioritise giving back at Christmas.

Christmas can be the most wonderful time of the year, but we know that not everyone is as fortunate as we are. We hear some awful stories and situations of people (and animals) in some particularly challenging situations. These are the ones that really pull at the heartstrings. So, throughout December each year, here at Nash & Co Solicitors, we run ‘Festive Fridays’ – activities that will help to raise vital money for charitable causes across the city.

What we do to give back during Christmas

Festive Fridays

Every Friday throughout December has a different theme. Each year, they roughly take the same pattern -:

Bake sales
Christmas Jumper day
Christmas Quiz
How many sweets in a jar?

From all these activities we raised an amazing £279.30, which the firm then matched – so an overall total of £558.60! So far this year, we have raised over £280, which the firm has then matched – so an overall total of £560+! This year we decided the money would go towards two very worthy charities, Trevi House and Sanctuary Supported Living.

Sanctuary Supported Living

‘Sanctuary Supported Living supports people on their pathways to independence. Through quality support and housing, we equip people with the confidence, self-esteem and life skills they need to live independently, whether that’s for the first time or following a significant change in circumstances.’

You may also know Sanctuary Supported Living by the title, the women’s refuge. These women have usually suffered from domestic abuse and have escaped to the care of the refuge – often with their children. Supporting the women here also means supporting the women in the refuge’s safe houses throughout the area.

Thankfully, a couple of national retailers have gifted presents to the children who are at the refuge or safe houses this year, but we wanted to support the women, most of whom will have been through pretty terrifying and horrendous experiences.

The money we raised has been spent on buying pyjamas, dressing gowns and blankets.

Trevi House

‘Trevi is a nationally award-winning women’s and children’s charity based in South West England. We provide safe and nurturing spaces for women in recovery to heal, grow and thrive.’

Trevi is just an incredible charity and does some pretty amazing things. The people that work there really do work wonders. The money we’ve raised has gone towards buying baby clothing and blankets for the women at the centre.

Donating presents to Barnardo’s Young Carers

‘We’re the largest national children’s charity in the UK. Now we’re helping hundreds of thousands of children, young people, parents and carers across the UK.’

We also love to donate gifts to make someone’s Christmas extra special – this year we have donated Christmas presents to Barnardo’s Young Carers in Plymouth.Dave Briggs from Nash & Co said:

‘This has been the best thing that I’ve been involved with, in a very very long time. You can’t begin to understand just how hard the lives of young carers can be. Having worked with the Barnardo’s Young Carer team in Plymouth in a previous job, I was aware of how hard these children’s lives can be and how many sacrifices they have to make in order to look after their loved ones. They’re amazing. And they do so much of this without complaint.’

We donated over 200 presents for 36 young carers at Barnado’s Plymouth. Because they probably weren’t going to get very much at all this Christmas, we wanted each child to have 4 or 5 presents each to open. The Barnardo’s team were able to tell us the individual interests of the children so we could buy them appropriate and relevant presents. It really hits home when you see just how young some of the children are – the majority are between 6 and 13 years old.

‘Some children aren’t able to enjoy the simple things many children take for granted, because they are caring for someone in their family who is ill or disabled.’ I hope these presents are going to make a young carers Christmas!’ Barnardo’s

For us to be able to make a young person’s Christmas that little bit more special and to create smiles of joy – well that’s what Christmas really is all about.

**Contact us** if you’d like to be considered for any of our charity activities.

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