The giant home store Dunelm has launched a "heartbreaking" appeal this Christmas which aims to help children receive basic gifts. Dunelm's 'Delivering Joy' charitable campaign has left customers in "tears" as the retailer will be delivering gifts within local communities who might otherwise go without.
Dunelm has partnered with local schools, care homes and refuges in hope to spread festive cheer. Christmas tags have been filled out by children and others with what they would like for Christmas as more people across the nation are struggling to make ends meet in daily life due to the cost of living crisis.
One of the heart-wrenching Christmas tags was filled out by a boy under 12 who wrote he would like 'a teddy to hold in case Santa doesn't come to me'. Dunelm's festive appeal sheds light on the reality of poverty for many children in the UK as there are a staggering 3.6 million children facing poverty across the nation.
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The scheme involves putting up pre-written tags on Christmas trees in stores that customers can take home, purchase and return with the selected gift before December 11. All stores will be participating, so visit your local store to find out how you can help this year.
The most wanted items amongst children and adults were a hat, scarves and gloves - while chocolate for children and toiletries for adults were also highly requested. The Mirror reported a staff member from a Dunelm branch in Liverpool shared the appeal on Facebook requesting people to help. Kelly Nichols wrote on Facebook "How are we in 2022, and facing this?!"
It continued: "Help us to Deliver Joy this year to so many people who are facing a Christmas with absolutely nothing. If you'd like to donate, but can't get down to store & collect a tag, I'm happy to send you some via Messenger...simply deliver them to us, at your convenience, before Dec 11th."
The homeware stores website reads: "Help yourself to a tag from the Delivering Joy tree in your local store. Each one offers an insight into who’s going to be receiving your gift and as they’re all local residents, you’ll be bringing joy to someone nearby. Once you’ve sorted their present, pop it in an unsealed gift bag and take it back into the store by Sunday 11th December. We’ll deliver the gifts in the run-up to Christmas..
"Shop at Dunelm.com and you’ll be able to make a cash donation to one of our charity partners when you go through our online checkout. Simply choose a charity, select how much you want to donate and we’ll do the rest."
@FrauForelle tweeted about the appeal: "Dunelm have a thing where you can take a tag off their Christmas tree and buy a pressie for someone. They write what they'd like. One little boy asked for a Teddy to hold in case Santa doesn't come. Another, under 10, wanted a hat and a biscuit. It's breaking my heart."
A tiktocker also shared the latest appeal and broke down in tears. @green_mile_official's video racked up 32.9K likes and people flooded to the comments sharing their heart-break. He captioned the video: "this absolutely broke me tonight. @Dunelm this is a thing right? I think all Dunelm stores are doing this. #christmas #presents #help #dunelm #treetag #christmas."
Follow the link here to watch the TikTok video.
Visit your local Dunelm branch to find out more information about how you can help Christmas 2022. To read more about the appeal, visit the Dunelm website.
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