Everyone deserves a Christmas
Carolyn Harris MP
Soon after I first became a Member of Parliament, an appeal for help from the local foodbank at the start of the school holidays, began a ripple effect. It started with my team making packed lunches for free holiday activities across Swansea East for two weeks that summer, to ease the burden on parents who relied on free school meals during term time. Each year it has grown enabling us to support more and more families and now ‘Everyone Deserves….’ provides hampers, hot meals and lunch clubs at Christmas, Easter and in the summer to thousands of households across the city and beyond.
We know that holiday hunger has been an issue in some of our communities for many years, but with prices of all our essentials rising at alarming rates, the cost of living is becoming unaffordable for more and more families. And with Christmas approaching, those who are already struggling are feeling the pressure even more.
Everyone Deserves a Christmas is now in its sixth year of providing festive hampers, cooked dinners, and other treats to those who might otherwise go without. Each year we have seen demand grow and in 2021 we were able to reach more than 2000 households across Swansea.
With more referrals of families who need our help, we hope to replicate that this year. This is all made possible thanks to generous financial donations from businesses and individuals, as well as the ongoing support from my good friend Mal Pope, Swansea West’s Julie James MS and her team, Swansea City AFC Foundation, Ospreys in the Community, Swansea Council and the Evening Post. And this year, for the first time, Stephen Kinnock MP and Jeremy Miles MS will be joining the Everyone Deserves team to ensure that our neighbouring communities of Neath, Port Talbot and Aberavon, are also able to provide for those who are struggling.
Our aim is the same as it has always been. To tackle holiday hunger, ease the burden on struggling families, and do everything we can to ensure that nobody goes without this Christmas. The feedback we have had in previous years, is what drives us to keep going. Parents who were able to buy the kids toys to open on Christmas morning because they no longer had to choose between that and putting food on the table. Children who were delighted with the extra festive treats that the household budget wouldn’t normally stretch to. Families that were so used to going without, able to enjoy their Christmas without the worry of how they were going to pay for it.
As always, the hampers will be packed full of all the ingredients for Christmas dinner as well as a selection of festive favourites and sweet treats. They will be put together by an amazing group of volunteers and delivered to families who have been nominated on Thursday 22 December.
Times are tough for so many in our communities this year, and it is therefore humbling to see people still giving whatever they can. Donations can still be made through our Just Giving page https://justgiving.com/campaign/everyonedeserves and every penny raised will go towards helping families across Swansea and the surrounding areas. We try to help everybody that gets referred by providing either a hamper or cooked dinners on Christmas Eve, because however difficult things get, Everyone Deserves a Christmas.
Carolyn Harris is the MP for Swansea East