Bankside firms and workers crowdfund for Christmas gifts for elderly and vulnerable
Businesses and workers in the Bankside area have so far raised more than £12,000 to provide homeless, vulnerable and elderly people with Christmas gift boxes from Borough Market.
'Together at Christmas' is Better Bankside's annual gift box appeal, encouraging Bankside businesses and employees to donate gifts to local charities.
This year, rather than collecting items to be added to the gift packages, Better Bankside has teamed up with Borough Market to turn online donations into Christmas food gifts for those who need them most.
Having beaten the original fundraising target of £7,500 a new goal of £15,000 has been set, with a deadline of this Friday 18 December.
The £12,000 raised so far has come in the shape of individual contributions starting at just £5 and corporate donations of up to £5,000.
The Christmas gifts will be packed by Borough Market's elves and distributed using green transport modes.
Some of the local organisations being supported this year include St Mungo's Great Guildford Street, The Robes Project, Look Ahead Southwark Bridge Road, Lucy Brown House, Blackfriars Settlement and Hopton's Almshouses.
Donald Hyslop, Chair of Better Bankside, said: "In a year unlike any other, Banksiders have shown a real desire to support our neighbourhood where they can.
"We were determined that our Together at Christmas campaign would go ahead in some form bringing the business and local communities together in a spirit of kindness and generosity. We're really pleased to be working with Borough Market this year to turn money raised into gifts for our local charities, also bringing some much needed additional support to their traders."
Darren Henaghan, managing director of Borough Market, added: "We are very lucky to have been able to stay open during the pandemic and in return want to give something back, so we are thrilled to be partnering with Better Bankside for their Together at Christmas appeal this year.
"Our responsibility has always been to first and foremost support our community rather than grow our profits – and this is more important than ever at the moment.
"Not only will your contributions be helping feed vulnerable members of the community, you will also be supporting traders from the market who have had one of their most challenging years."
