Keynsham 'Christmas angel' overwhelmed by generous donations

Charlotte Churchill said the donations and kindness of strangers represents 'the true meaning of Christmas'

A woman referred to as a "Christmas angel" said she was overwhelmed by the generosity of donors and volunteers to help give families a better Christmas.

Charlotte Churchill, 48, from Somerset, is collecting gifts from across the community and asking family, friends and colleagues to help wrap them.

The team has made 35 food hampers, 15 toy parcels and six toiletry parcels.

She said strangers' generosity had made her cry and added "It's so lovely that people can do something so kind".

The last of the parcels are due to be sent out later this week.

Miss Churchill set up a Facebook page requesting gift donations and said the support she had received "represents the true meaning of Christmas.

"People like to help others that need a bit of a helping hand and I think all of us at points in our life, need [that]."

Luxury hampers include more expensive Christmas items like Ribena, hot chocolate, chutney and festive crackers

The mother-of-three from Keynsham is the service manager for Always Precious, a company commissioned by local authorities to provide long and short-term care packages for families to help keep them together and to reduce the number of children who are placed in care.

With so many families they work with requiring the support of food banks, she came up with the idea of making luxury hampers for them too.

"The only thing people donating know is the gender and age of the person they're buying for then they write a tag which reads 'with love from a Christmas friend'," she said.

She said she had received some lovely responses and one person told her she was like "an angel".

"I've facilitated it but that's no use without everyone else coming forward and doing all the other bits," Miss Churchill said.

"It's only as successful as the people who've donated, contributed and supported it. It's been a real community thing."

"I think it's so nice for people to hear a feel-good story and we've all lived in a lot of fear and negativity."