A CHRISTMAS card campaign to help brighten the season for lonely people has seen an overwhelming response from people in Redditch.
The ‘Send a Card and Make this Christmas Special’ campaign was launched in Redditch just a couple of weeks ago, but with the help of local schools and Redditch people, 167 cards have been sent to those who have no-one to celebrate the winter season with.
The campaign, asking people of all ages to make their own Christmas cards and festive drawings with messages of goodwill to share with isolated people in the community is the brainchild of Marissa Robinson, who started the project last year in the hope that a small gesture from a stranger would make a difference to people who had no one to share Christmas with.
When she launched the campaign in Redditch at the beginning of December, Marissa was delighted when Orchard Clothing offered to host a postbox for the project and the specialist clothing store on the Hunt End Trading Estate have helped collect the individually designed and handwritten cards for Marissa, who will deliver them to ‘Living With Dementia’.
The 25-year-old said: “The project is about reaching out to people who may be alone over the festive period and bringing the community together.
“I have a family and this teaches them that Christmas isn’t just about presents and indulgence, but about giving and thinking about others who might not have what many of us take for granted.
“It doesn’t take a lot of time or money to create just a picture or a card, and it means to much to the person who receives it and the response we’ve had is fantastic.
“One Redditch mother got in touch to tell me that her son had started crying when she explained why they were making and writing their cards. He just couldn’t believe there were people living nearby who had no one to spend Christmas with – so I think this message has got across to a lot of people, across the generations.”
Astwood Smiles Nursery and Cotteridge Primary School both contributed handmade cards from their students, adding to the total delivered to those living with dementia.
Marissa added: “I would like to say a huge thank-you to everyone who wrote a card – hopefully next year we shall have even more postboxes set up to cover Redditch and give more people a special Christmas.”
