Generous Northampton shoppers fill shoe boxes with Christmas gifts for the less fortunate

Shoe boxes full of Christmas gifts have been delivered to schools, women's refuges and care home residents thanks to customers at a Northampton store.

Dunelm asked shoppers to take a shoe box from under its Christmas tree and fill it with presents based on a list of wishes pupils and St John’s Residential Care Home residents had written on gift tags.

In total, 25 shoe boxes were returned to the Nene Valley Retail Park shop earlier this month to be handed out to those less fortunate.

Store manager Rebecca Waylekin said: “We’ve been absolutely taken back by the support and response we’ve had from our customers.

"It’s been really heart-warming to see the local community come together to make sure those less fortunate have something to look forward to this Christmas.”

The scheme was part of the homeware retailer’s national Delivering Joy campaign, which was launched at the beginning of October.

Many people across the country have been met with financial hardship this year, with many care home residents facing the possibility of spending Christmas away from their friends and family..

Despite the November lockdown and store closures, the campaign continued, with generous shoppers heading to Dunelm’s Northampton Community Support Facebook group.

A Northampton store team member shared details of the tags that had not been claimed over private message for the community to then fill shoeboxes and bring back to store once it reopened on December 2.