Islanders spread good cheer to those in need

Plenty of good will was being dished out across Bermuda yesterday as islanders showed the true meaning of Christmas.

Staff from the Reefs Hotel donated around a dozen bags full of food, clothes and toys to the Salvation Army.

While members of the St George’s Parish Council were out delivering festive food to families in the East End last night.

The outpouring of generosity came as charities braced themselves a Christmas rush as struggling families looked for help during the festive period.

Thomas Harvey, and the rest of the St George’s Parish Council, helped raise more than $3,200 last month by taking part in a sponsored trash-athon, which they then used to make Christmas hampers. 

Mr Harvey and other council volunteers were out collecting groceries from supermarkets and distributors yesterday in advance of distributing the hampers.

He said: “There are a lot of families in our community that need this extra help this year.

“We have bought a whole range of foods to prepare the Christmas hampers and we hope they bring some festive cheer to families going through tough times at the moment.”

While staff at The Reefs in Southampton joined forces to donate food, clothes and toys to the Salvation Army which was handed over yesterday morning.

Organizer Ashley Faries told the Bermuda Sun: “The Salvation Army do such a lot of work in the community that we wanted to do our bit to help them.

“So everyone at the hotel got involved in donating toys and clothes and food, and we filled around 12 big bags.

“A lot of people don’t have jobs at the moment and are unable to feed their families so the items we have collected should help some of the people.”

Companies, food distributors and estate agents have all come together in the last week as part of a Christmas charity drive.

Just last week Coldwell Banker Bermuda Realty donated more than 2,000 toys to the Coalition for the Protection of Children to help struggling families as part of its Toys for Tots campaign.

Sheelagh Cooper from the Coalition said: “The campaign was a huge success that saw individuals, children and families, and companies across the island rally to ensure all of Bermuda’s children receive at least one or two newly purchased gifts this Christmas.

“We are indebted to the work of Coldwell once again.

“We distributed gifts to our client families this past Sunday at our Annual Children’s Christmas party, and the smiles on the children’s faces bought joy to everyone in the room.

“We know that without these gifts, some of these children would not receiving anything this Christmas.

“We have also been lucky enough to have so many gifts that we have been able to share toys with many of our partner agencies, who also serve families in our community.

“We supplied gifts to Friswell’s Hill United, Gina Spence in Christ Productions, The Department of Child and Family Services for children in Foster Care, the Community Centre, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bermuda, Feed the Children Ministries, the Paget Titans Youth Club, Prison Fellowship, Heritage Preschool and Nursery, Creative Touch Preschool, Devonshire Preschool, Warwick Preschool, Aeries Adventures Preschool and sent the remaining gifts to the Salvation Army to help them meet their needs.

“We would like to thank the community for their generosity and helping us to help our clients give their children a more special Christmas morning.”