Here at MKB we do lots of little fundraising things over the course of the year. We have a charity tuck shop where staff can get their mid-afternoon sugar kick for a donation, we do bake sales here and there, sometimes a raffle. Lots of little things, but it adds up. We used to choose a charity of the year and give the money to them and make a sustained effort to support them over the year financially and in terms of awareness. This year we’ve decided to do things a little differently and distribute it in the run up to Christmas. We’re pleased to announce that with an additional donation from the firm, we have raised £2,000.00 this year and we’ve decided to make a donation to four charities – one each week in the run up to Christmas – of £500 per charity.

To celebrate the Christmas theme, we will support a charity connected (sometimes very tenuously!!!) to each of the four candles of Advent.

For those that don’t know, on each of the four Sundays in the run up to Christmas, in churches, an advent candle is lit. Each candle has a different name or meaning. So, we’ve chosen each of our four charities based on the theme of each weekly advent candle.

For week 1, the advent candle is ‘Hope’ and what better represents Hope than children. Whether it be your own, or other peoples – kids are the embodiment of Hope. Whilst Christmas should be a fun time for children, it isn’t for all, some aren’t as lucky as others. We wanted to contribute a little something to try and bring a smile to those that are less fortunate this Christmas.

Our first donation of £500 has therefore been used to support the amazing work done by the Barnsley Christmas Toy Bank.

The Barnsley Christmas Toy Bank is run by an amazing group of people who every year use their time and energy to initiate, organise, collect, wrap and distribute toys and gifts for kids who might be a little less well off than others at Christmas or may be in hospital over the Christmas period, with the aim of making their Christmas that little bit brighter, no matter what their day to day lives currently look like.

We’ve managed to source the gifts pictured which in the next few days will be sent over to the Barnsley Christmas Toy Bank to make some young people’s Christmas Day that little bit brighter.

With thanks, again, to our friends at Barnsley Christmas Toy Bank, not just for the help with our offering, but for all they do. Also, a big thanks to Dramatic Scope Limited, for help with the selection of items, especially for the older kids!

Check back next week for the second of our Candles of Advent – “Peace” or “the Bethlehem Candle”.