STAFF at Worcester’s Dunelm store have taken part in the homeware retailer’s national Delivering Joy campaign.
Boosted by the donation of 41 shoeboxes of gifts from shoppers, staff handed out the gifts to local schools, women’s refuges and residents of St Stephens care home.
Residents and school children had written gift tags of small wishes that would make a big difference to them this Christmas. The tags were then placed on a Christmas tree at the front of the Worcester store, where a staff member provided shoppers with a shoebox to take away, along with a selected tag, to fill with gifts.
The Delivering Joy campaign was launched at the beginning of October as many people across the country have been met with financial hardship this year and continue to isolate in care homes, with many facing the possibility of spending Christmas away from their friends and family.
Jamie Gillespie, store manager at Dunelm Worcester said: “We’ve been absolutely taken back by the support and response we’ve had from our customers; it’s been really heart-warming to see the local community come together to make sure those less fortunate have something to look forward to this Christmas.”
Despite the November lockdown and store closures, the Delivering Joy campaign continued, with generous shoppers heading to Dunelm’s local Worcester Community Support Facebook group. A Worcester store team member shared details of the tags that hadn’t been claimed over private message, for the local community to then fill shoeboxes and bring back to store once it reopened.
