Each festive season Bucks Students’ Union gives back to the local community by creating Christmas hampers filled with gifts and goodies, kindly donated and lovingly packed by students and staff.
This year has been tough for everyone and now more than ever we see the importance of spreading some festive joy and cheer to our community. For the past 2 years we have invited a residential home to join us in The Venue and enjoy a Christmas meal and watch festive performances from our Musical Theatre/Acapella society and our Cheer/Dance Clubs. Unfortunately, this year due to the current times we were not able to carry on this tradition, so instead we have set out to bring some festive cheer to the residents from the comfort of their own homes in the form of hampers!
After reaching out to our Bucks students and staff through social media we were overwhelmed with the amount of donations that were received. A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to donate, with a special thank to Seana O’Reilly and her family who created over 15 hampers - collecting, packing and wrapping all of them themselves.
With all the donations collected we had student volunteers at the ready to begin packing all the hampers and writing the Christmas cards. Thank you to all our volunteers and a special thank you to Ce’Nedra Goosen a graphic design student, for supporting us this year by creating two Christmas cards for us, which added that personal touch!
On Tuesday 8 December, one of our student volunteers hopped into our SU sleigh (a.k.a, the minibus) and set off to deliver 70 hampers to the residents and staff at Cherry Garth home. On top of this we also added an extra 4 bags full of biscuits, chocolates and other festive treats to bring a smile to all. It was heartwarming to see the joy these hampers gave to the residents and they were very much appreciated by all.
We want to say the biggest thank you to everyone who helped make these hampers, whether it was through donations, packing, or delivering it all went to making someone’s festive season feel that extra bit special!
Not everyone is safe and tucked up in the warmth however and each year we do our best to try and support Wycombe Homeless Connection as much as we can, whether that be through money raised from students participating in The Big Sleep Out or donating items that people need. This year to spread some Christmas cheer, we asked what we could do for Wycombe Homeless Connection and donated chocolate selection boxes which are being given out to bring a little extra cheer this festive period. Recently, our nursing students raised an incredible £431 for charities that aim to stop poverty within our local community and the money is being donated to Wycombe Homeless Connection and Hillingdon Foodbank.