Supporting Bolton families at Christmas
Clear Futures, along with Seddon, has given a helping hand to Bolton charity Urban Outreach, to deliver Christmas hampers that will feed more than 1,500 families.
Contractors Robertson Group, Eric Wright Group and Willmott Dixon in Bolton also turned up to offer their services.
Families are nominated for the hampers by someone such as a support working with them and the group then work to get them a hamper on two distribution days, including December 23, where a fresh option is included.
The fresh option is for families to enjoy Christmas day with fresh meat and fruit included along with chicken and sausages with halal options also available. The non fresh options included schloer, custard, gravy, chocolate mints, cranberry sauce, crisps and savoury crackers as well as pulling crackers for families to have fun.
Laura Bagley from Christmas Dinner On Jesus said: “We hope that it is something more than just food.
“Hopefully it will take out some of the worry and some of the stress of Christmas.
“I think what we hope most of all is that it has a much bigger impact such as the joy that comes from it and for people to know they can get help.
“We’ve worked on 600 in one day and it’s just over a third of what we need in total.
“We hope that it makes people feel less lonely and they realise that they are thought about and cared for.”
This is the eleventh year of Christmas Dinner With Jesus.
Laura said she had noticed more people needing help this year than other years as families were embarassed to ask for help if they had not been in a situation to need it.
She said: “Everybody is usually nominated as they don’t like to ask for help themselves and we are seeing in the current crisis that more people are needing this and we want to help take the worry away.
“We’re happy to do this and we want people to enjoy Christmas.”
Between April and September in 2021, 724 food parcels went out to children in Bolton, a 61 per cent rise from the year before.
With this figure set to rise yet again this year, the support Urban Outreach provides is becoming increasingly vital for many in the community.
This is a great charitable initiative from Seddon and Clear Futures. It was wonderful to see these two companies acting for the good of the community, especially at Christmas time.
Mayor of Bolton, Cllr Akhtar Zaman
Urban Outreach provides food for disadvantaged adults and young people in Bolton as well as support.
Nicola Hodkinson, owner and director of Seddon, said: “Community forms a key pillar of our values at Seddon. We have been based in and worked across the Bolton area for 125 years, making events like this one very close to our hearts. With families facing a cost-of-living crisis this year, the work that Urban Outreach is doing is invaluable to the community.”
Now more than ever it is so important to Clear Futures that we drive forward economic recovery and growth in our communities through the infrastructure projects and services we deliver.
Keith Edwards, Clear Futures Partnerships Director
