It wasn’t just the Wish FM Toy appeal that Scott Rees & Co has been supporting over the last couple of weeks. Our staff have been holding a collection to help the Wigan Youth Zone successfully prepare hampers to give out at their annual Christmas lunch for disadvantaged young people and the response has been fantastic.
Helping local children
The Wigan Youth Zone is a £6 million facility, which provides a number of initiatives and activities to assist with the care and development of the town’s children and young people. The facility looks to give young people “somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to” but looks beyond simply ‘getting them off the street’.
The sizeable facility offers activities every single day, boasting:
- A sports hall
- Sports pitches
- Music rooms
- A gym
- Sports club
- Martial arts clubs
- Dance classes
- Arts and crafts sessions
- Enterprise and employability courses
- And much more…
The centre is funded by patrons and fundraising events throughout the year, enabling them to offer great facilities and provide assistance to those in need, just as they are preparing to do this Christmas season.
Christmas lunch & hampers
The Christmas donation drive attempts to help bring in donations of food, essential toiletries and games to allow the Youth Zone to host a fantastic Christmas lunch on the 18th December for 160 young people and their families. The same event will also see donations packed into hampers for families, who will greatly appreciate them at what is generally a very expensive and difficult time of year.
Scott Rees & Co Partner, Chris Connor, was on hand to present our donation personally, with Youth Zone staff thanking him by providing a tour of the facility. Chris first heard of the Youth Zone at a business lunch earlier in the year and immediately, wanted to get Scott Rees & Co involved in some way.
After speaking to all the staff about the good work the facility does, it wasn’t long until the collection point within the office was overloaded with various tins, boxes and packets of food alongside essential care products for all the family and some toys and games for the younger kids at the Youth Zone.
Speaking about the Youth Zone and the Christmas hamper drive itself, Chris said “From the moment I heard about it I absolutely wanted Scott Rees & Co to do our part. The facility is a fantastic resource for young people and families in the local area. The Christmas lunch and hampers will go a long way to easing the burden for many in what is normally a very difficult time of year to get by. After visiting the facility I can say they provide an amazing service, not only helping young people stay active and social, but giving them life skills and employability skills ready for later life they otherwise may not have gotten.”
Visit the facility
If you would like to help Wigan Youth Zone with their Christmas drive, donations are still being accepted right up until the lunch date. If you would like to go further and see the facility itself, they are hosting a Christmas Fayre on the same Sunday as the lunch (18th December) from 10am until 1pm. The fayre will have stalls for crafts and winter treats for everybody.
You can drop any donations for the hampers before the 18th December at the reception desk of the Youth Zone (see map below for details) or you can get in touch by calling 01942 612 061 and ask for Genna Banks. If you would prefer to email you can also send one to genna.banks@wiganyouthzone.org