Kemi Badenoch, the Member of Parliament for the Saffron Walden constituency has thanked local residents for their generosity after she launched a Christmas Toy Appeal urging them to ‘buy one more’ toy to donate to local charity Home-Start Essex.
Mrs Badenoch was delighted to deliver a large assortment of presents to a Home-Start Essex event in the constituency and speak with some of the local families the charity supports.
Mrs Badenoch was also joined by representatives of the National Grid Gas who made a generous cash donation as part of their local community support work. National Grid Gas chose to support Home-Start Essex this year after Mrs Badenoch’s visit to their Chelmsford Compressor Site where they discussed the Christmas Toy Appeal.
Commenting, Mrs Badenoch said:
“The response to the appeal has been overwhelming, we were all visibly emotional when we saw how large the collection was. I can’t thank everyone enough and it shows how community-minded we are in this wonderful part of Essex.
“This Christmas season, I was keen to support a small, local charity. I picked Home-Start Essex, because I was so impressed by their work, helping about 25 families across the constituency and wider Essex area. This appeal received over 70 toys which will now be gifted to those very families and children.
“Thank you to everyone who donated and supported the appeal – you have helped make this season more joyful for families across the constituency. I would also like to thank everyone at Home-Start Essex for all the fantastic work you do.”
A National Grid Gas spokesperson said:
“We’re really keen that our business goes the extra mile to help the communities we serve, and this is a really good example of how we can help those in need.
“We recently welcomed Kemi Badenoch MP to our site in Chelmsford to see what we do. When she told us about the toy appeal, we said we’d be delighted to support it with a donation, and I know she was thrilled that we’d followed through. That was never in doubt – because when we commit to something, we do it!”
To find out more about Home-Start Essex services, volunteering opportunities and ways to support the charity, then please visit https://home-startessex.org.uk/support/ or call 01245 847410
