“It's been amazing!”
The words of a charity official in Huddersfield - overwhelmed by the generosity of people in the town.
The Welcome Centre, a charity which provides essentials to people in crisis, received an unprecedented amount of donations in time for Christmas.
Through December the centre received enough for 10,000 packs, compared to 5,600 packs in the same period last year.
For 20 years The Welcome Centre, Lord Street, has been supplying packs of food and essentials to individuals and families in hard times.
Thanks to the generosity of individuals, community organisations and businesses, the centre received almost double the usual amount of pre-Christmas donations.
Centre manager Karen Selley, pictured above, said: “It’s been unprecedented. It’s been amazing. We haven’t been able to keep up.
“We’ve probably had double what we normally get and we get lots of donations anyway. We’re just in shock.
“We’re busy all year round but at Christmas it seems a lot harder, emotionally and practically. People are under pressure to look after their families and it’s very hard.”
Ms Selley believes straitened times and increased media coverage of struggling families and individuals has prompted the extra generosity.
She said: “The media has highlighted it so much and at Christmas it tugs at the heartstrings knowing someone else might not be able to deal with Christmas.”
This year’s donors include schools, council employees, charities and community and faith groups across the town.
The Welcome Centre, at 15 Lord Street, welcomes donations of tinned and dried food.
And while the stock room is currently full, it won’t remain so for long.
Ms Selley added: “Over the next three to four months it will go very quickly.”
For more information about the Welcome Centre visit: www.thewelcomecentre.org .
