Christmas seems like it was an age ago; however, we want to share our festive news from the Manchester team!
As the festive season rolled in, the team at our Manchester office was inspired to get involved with a local charity in Ancoats.
After some discussion, and with some help of some Christmas spirit, they decided to donate beautifully wrapped presents to Mustard Tree, a charity that combats poverty and homelessness in the Ancoats area, that would then be given to families in Manchester struggling financially over the festive period.
As a team we were all keen to get involved, so we each sourced different toys, stocking fillers, warm clothes, chocolates, toiletry sets, and more. We covered a range of ages and interests, putting thought into choosing gifts we felt would really be appreciated and enjoyed.
We then spent an evening neatly wrapping all the gifts (to the best of our ability) before dropping them to Mustard Tree for distribution. The feedback from Mustard Tree was great and gave us a real sense of the impact these donations would have on local families.
“Thank you for your donation last week – it was absolutely outstanding. Not just because of the tangible, positive impact the items will have on the community, but the effort you’ve gone to with wrapping everything is just…bloody lovely.”
Harry Dwan Fundraising & Advocacy Lead | Mustard Tree
Chatting with Mustard Tree further about the work that they do made it clear just how needed charities like these are in Manchester.
Since returning to work in the New Year, we’ve been discussing how we can continue to engage with Mustard Tree to help address their customer’s needs, and we are looking into ways of supporting them as a more regular commitment.
About Mustard Tree
Mustard Tree is a Charity and food bank based in the Ancoats region of Manchester. They aim to grow people’s skills, confidence, and self-efficacy through dignified service and meaningful training. They provide opportunities for people to help themselves through practical support, friendships, connections into employment, health and wellbeing improvements, and engaging experiences.
Poverty, homelessness, and inequality are all rife in Manchester, with the cost-of-living crisis exaggerating these issues even further. Mustard Tree now has a footfall of approximately 10,000 people every month seeking help from their services and more than 6000 visits to their Food Club.
This, in turn, means Mustard Tree are more reliant than ever on outstanding community members to fundraise, advocate, run events and donate to keep the charity going and continue supporting the people of Manchester.