Thank you to our donors
Each year, we fundraise to buy presents for 1,000 children and elderly patients spending Christmas day in hospital. Lucy Wootton, Clinical Lead of the play team at The Royal London Hospital said: “No child or young person wants to be in hospital over Christmas, it’s such a special time for people to be at home with their friends and family, so we try to make the hospital as festive and friendly as possible during this time.”
Due to the pandemic, patients have faced a very different Christmas in hospital for the past two years – visiting was heavily restricted so many of our patients didn’t get to see their loved ones. It may seem small, but having a present to open at Christmas brightens the day for some of our most vulnerable patients, especially since they couldn’t have visitors.
Thanks to generous donations, we were able to give a gift to every child and older person spending Christmas 2021 in our hospitals.
Patient receives a present at Christmas
A significant donation
One of the most significant donations came from Wonderful Communications and The Corinthia St George’s Bay Hotel, Malta. In years past, long-time Barts Charity supporter Jamie Ndah of Wonderful Communications, would host a gift party in aid of our Christmas Gift Appeal. With pandemic restrictions in place, Jamie had to get creative for last year’s event so he decided to go virtual. Together with Hotel Chocolat, he hosted a virtual chocolate tasting event, inviting guests from all over the world.
One of those guests was Alaine Ciantar from the Commercial Team at The Corinthia St George’s Bay Hotel, Malta. The resort offered a holiday raffle prize, but Alaine felt drawn to do something unexpected. Earlier in the year, a company had booked a conference at hotel, and put down a £24,000 deposit. When the event was cancelled, the company asked the resort to donate the deposit to a charity of their choice.
Alaine and the team at the resort chose Barts Charity to receive the deposit, bringing the total raised for the 2021 Christmas Gift Appeal to just under £43,000.
The team at Corinthia St George's Bay
Our supporters went above and beyond
Barts Charity Fundraiser Sophie Wallace added, “We’re absolutely delighted by the incredible generosity of Corinthia St George’s Bay and Wonderful Communications in supporting our Christmas Gift Appeal. 2020 and 2021 were particularly tough for our East London hospital staff and patients, but the morale boost from the community’s support of their work was invaluable in keeping them going during a difficult Christmas period.”
Two other long-term Barts Charity supporters, Tottenham Hotspur FC (Spurs) and West Ham United, donated presents to the children on the Acorn Ward at Whipps Cross and at Newham Hospital. Both teams weren’t swayed by pandemic restrictions and went above and beyond in supporting us.
We would like to give a huge thank you to everybody who donated to our 2021 Christmas Gift Appeal. We are so grateful for the support.