Charity bringing hope to many as it hands out Christmas hampers

The charity has also teamed up with every school in Calderdale to ensure that 1,900 children will receive gifts this Christmas.

Earlier this year, Brighouse-based Focus4Hope sent out 250 food parcels a week, ensuring that they were all personalised for the size of the family and included fresh fruit and vegetables. Each parcel also catered for dietary requirements.

Focus4Hope is encouraging residents and businesses to give what they can, including time, food and other donations, to make a difference to communities in West Yorkshire over Christmas and what will be a difficult January for many.

The charity said that its volunteers have provided much needed support for the homeless, the elderly, the vulnerable, refugees and survivors of domestic abuse during what has been an incredibly difficult year.

The charity is supported by community engagement platform Neighbourly, which has helped Focus4Hope provide some of the food to serve its community during this challenging period.

Neighbourly works with a number of major grocers including Aldi, Marks & Spencer and Lidl, connecting them with over 18,000 local charities across the country so they can donate surplus products, volunteer time and raise money for local good causes.

These collaborations have ensured that Focus4Hope has been able to give out fresh fruit and vegetables in all its hampers, making sure that people have access to at least some of their five a day.

Shaz Bolton, a volunteer at Focus4Hope, said: “This year has been a really tough year for many in our community, but we are really delighted to be delivering these hampers, which we hope will deliver a little bit of extra Christmas joy.

"We are so thankful to the people and businesses who have donated time, money and food to make this happen and we’re encouraging many more people and businesses to get involved in the new year.”

Steve Butterworth, CEO of Neighbourly, added: “Focus4Hope is a truly fantastic organisation that directly serves the hyper-local needs of the community.

"We are very proud to be supporting the tireless volunteers at Focus4Hope on their programme of festive giving in West Yorkshire.

"We hope that through this, more businesses will see the importance of what charities like Focus4Hope do and encourage as many businesses as possible to support their local communities and causes.”

He added that firms can support the community groups distributing the food packages via [email protected].